It's My Move!
by WikketKrikket
Summary: Back in the day, Seto and Yugi had a lot of adventures. But those days are gone, and things like that just don't happen anymore. So what's Mokuba, aged 15, to do? Well, Seto getting himself kidnapped may just provide the answer...
1. One of those days

A/N: Wow! Another new fic! A new adventure! Whooo! But, hold on, because I probably have to explain a lot of it. The first, and most important thing, this is written basically as though 'The Decline of Duel Monsters' (You'll know it when you get there) was trigged directly after Battle City, mainly because I haven't seen after that yet. (Yup, good ole' Britain is still in the Virtual World arc) I need to get cable… Anyhoo, this is going on the general assumption that in the beginning of the whole thing, Yugi, Seto, ect. were 15, Mokuba was 11, and Serenity was 12. (I always thought she was 13, but for the sake of convenience…) This fic is set four years after that. Aka, Yugi, Seto ect. are 19, Mokuba is 15 and Serenity is 16, for those of you who can't add up. Oh, and this is mainly based on the British school system, so Mokuba is in his final year of Secondary school, Serenity would've just started college, and yeah, the others would have been able to enrol at University at 18. If ya don't get it, tough nougies.

Finally, and most importantly, **_THE MILLEUM ITEMS ARE NO LONGER AROUND! _**Seeing as I actually know what happens to em, I see no reason for them to be included. Okay?

Now, this is just an intro chapter, so it's small and lame. But bear with me, things should get going next chapter!

Disclaimer: Teenage Mokie! What? Oh, I don't own.

One: One of those days…

Seto growled softly to himself and banged on the door again. Finally, his younger brother's head appeared.

"Yes?" He said innocently. And loudly.

"Turn it down!" Seto ordered.

"What?" Mokuba asked.

"I said turn it down!" Seto bellowed over the music that was now more then ever pouring out into the corridor and polluting his ears.

"Turn what down?" Mokuba grinned.

"That noise!"

"It's not noise! It's music!"

"It's loud and it's in my house. It's noise!"

"You just have no taste in music." Mokuba sniffed (loudly) but none the less, went and begrudgingly turned the stereo off.

"Thankyou." Seto said, miming hitting him over the head. "I surprised you don't kill yourself."

"Like you can talk…" Mokuba muttered. "How many times have _you _nearly killed yourself? I seem to remember Yugi telling me about _someone _who knew he was losing a duel and so stood on a castle wall above a 50-ft drop, the ocean, and sharp rocks, and threatened to-"

"You're going to be late for school." Seto growled threateningly, arms folded.

"_You're _going to be late for work!" Mokuba retorted, sticking out his tongue.

"Oh, grow up." Seto sighed. "Besides, I'm the boss, I'm never late. Now, go on, get out of here!"

"Fine." Mokuba said grudgingly, walking down the stairs. "See ya later, Seto."

"Yeah, bye."

A few seconds later, he heard his brother's exclamation as he saw the ocean that had apparently got bored of the beach, because it was now falling from the sky. Seto shrugged. Hey, Mokuba was the one who had insisted on _not _riding to school in the limo. Seto had just had to go with it.

He was sure _he _wasn't like this when he was fifteen.

Mokuba gritted his teeth. It was obviously going to be one of those days.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

You may have noticed that Seto Kaiba seems to have 'lightened up' considerably in the last four years. Not many people care to speculate on why this is, and frankly don't give a monkey's, but for those who do, there is one generally accepted theory. And that is what 'experts' call The Decline of Duel Monsters.

As Yugi Moto won more and more matches, it became fairly obvious that no-one could beat him. Not even Seto Kaiba. And as soon as this became clear, duellists, even the most ambitious players, could see there was no point in competing in tournaments- It was obvious who the winner would eventually be, the outcome would be decided before the first players had drawn their hands. As a result, competitions stopped running- the 'serious' players had already forgotten about their dreams and aspirations to be the best, because it was unreachable. Motto was untouchable.

With no tournaments or opportunities to duel new people, even those who played for fun eventually became bored. I2's business began to fail, and a game that had previously run everything was forgotten.

Which had an understandable effect on those we all know the best.

Seto Kaiba, being Seto Kaiba, had seen it coming for years. So, while it was still a craze, he made his fortune and established Kaiba Corp. as a company by selling his Duel Disks and other related merchandise. Just before it crashed, he stopped production of aforementioned items, much to everyone's surprise. By the time the population was moving on to the next fad, Kaiba Corp. was establishing itself (and beating the crap out of all the other companies) in the field of AI. While the robots weren't independent or sentient yet by a long shot, they were certainly the most advanced.

Which made Seto a very rich man. Again.

Peguas, if he was honest, didn't particularly care about Duel Monsters going down the pan. He was retired anyway, and he had always known the day would inevitably come. The cards were no longer being produced, simply because they wouldn't sell. It was sad, yes, but at least his beloved monsters would live on to some extent in the hands of an aspiring business-man…

Whose name was Duke Devlin. In a move of desperation, and, or so it was rumoured, intelligence, to keep his game alive, DDM brought up I2 and hence owned all rights to Duel Monsters. Then, he had gradually bent or created rules for the dice game that allowed it to be incorporated into almost all types of gambling. DDM was now a favourite in casinos and arcades the world over. Perhaps not the most moral of decisions, but it certainly made him rich. Unfortunately, it also meant he was abroad a lot, which, though not bad in itself, meant that he had more or less lost contact with his friends, including…

Ryou Bakura, who had left for England some years ago, to go to college and then University. Last anyone had heard, he had taken a year out of Uni to go travelling with a friend of his. He had been excited at the prospect of travelling the world and seeing new places, countries like New Zealand, Australia, Peru, China and…

France, much like Mai Valentine, who had been accepted at what she called a 'fashion college' in France. Apparently, she was learning how to design all her own clothes and wasn't doing to badly at selling them either. Things had turned out pretty well for her, as they had for…

Joey Wheeler, who, on completing school had moved out of town to live with his mom and sister. This meant that Serenity would no longer be visiting Domino, unless Joey came back to, much to the chagrin of…

Tristan Taylor, who was still in Domino but had been pretty distant since Joey left. He had neglected University in favour of an apprenticeship at the local mechanic's, unlike…

Téa Gardener, to who Uni. had been a dream come true. She had left home and was now living on campus, taking a degree in both Literature and in Psychology, a class she shared with…

Yugi Moto, who, although taking courses at the University, had remained at the Game Shop to work there in his spare time. A feat he finally got paid for, I may add. Heralded four years ago as bringing new life to the flagging game of Duel Monsters, he was now almost always blamed for its downfall.

He was just too good.

As any animal instinctively knows, when an older generation is dying, the only choice is to bring in a new generation in the hope that the species will survive another decade.

Perhaps it was time for Duel Monsters to do the same.

Or perhaps it was already too late. Beyond the point of no return. A species that is extinct cannot be revived, despite those who have so painstakingly tried.

But surely, Yugi and the others should be the ones that know the best that some things buried under the sands of time are best left buried.

You never know what you may find.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Mokuba was tramping through the wet, already soaked through. And he had only just got down the to the street proper. He, as he so often did, cursed the architect that had built the place. Why on Earth would they need such a long drive-way! What, did people think they'd have a fifty foot long car?

"Hey!" Someone shouted. "Yoo-hoo! Mokie! Wait up!"

Mokuba gritted his teeth again and walked a little faster, pretending not to have heard. The voice was whiny and unmistakable. A fellow class mate of his, a very irritating girl who followed him around. A lot. Suddenly, he heard gales of laughter behind him and Mokuba gave a mixed sigh of relief and exasperation as he realised he'd been fooled again.

"Morning." He said wearily, as his friend, a girl named Risa who had an amazing infinity of being able to put on various voices and imitate people perfectly.

"The richest family in Domino and you still can't afford an umbrella." Was her greeting.

"You don't have one either." Mokuba pouted as they reached the bus stop- and just in time, as the bus was pulling up at that exact moment.

"Why does it always rain?" He asked miserably as they climbed on. "I'm soaked…"

"Well, so am I now!" Risa yelled back, as he shook the water out of his hair. This act earned him the second wack upside the head of the morning.

Oh yeah, it was _defiantly_ one of those days.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A few hours and a little drier later, Mokuba rested his head against his locker door and sighed. It _had _been one of those days. He got yelled at in history, because the teacher didn't believe him when he that a stray dog had eaten his homework. The irony of it was that at break time, a dog that had got onto the grounds _had _eaten it. Then vomited it up all over his shoes, which was what had made him late to the class in the first place. His life had to be a sitcom, really. Otherwise things like that wouldn't happen.

Not to mention in gym class where the gym teacher _deliberately _tripped him up so he would screw up the vault. It wasn't fair. Mokuba was obviously the best in the class, and he wasn't boasting- it was true. The gym teacher just didn't like him. And as for getting his hair cut… Oh yeah, he was _really_ going to get a crew cut. Yeah, then he'd look so much better.

Stupid evil gym teacher. If only he hadn't come out of that weird coma all those years ago… Long hair was apparently a sore subject for him. Who knew why?

By the time he'd been lectured by both the history teacher and the gym teacher during lunch break, it was nearly over. Which meant only the most crummy things were left. Rather squeamish by nature, he declined to have anything. He should really start bringing his own. But that meant either he'd have to get up even earlier to make it, or accept Seto's offer to do it for him.

Seto Kaiba can do a lot of things. Cooking is not one of them. Even his sandwiches could be disastrous.

And as for when he tried to cook _meat_… Was it any wonder Mokuba had been pretending to be a vegetarian ever since Seto fired their cook? Why did he fire the cook, you ask? He was worried a cook would poison them, naturally.

Plus he obviously didn't notice how bad his cooking tasted.

"Hello Mokuba…" Someone said softly in a tone they obviously thought seductive. Normally Mokuba would put up with and join in with Risa's horse play, but right now, for obvious reasons, he wasn't in the mood.

"I'm not falling for that again!" He said wearily, not turning around as he began to take his stuff from his locker so he could go home at last. "So just pack it in. I'm not in the mood for you right now. Or ever, actually."

He heard heavy footsteps as someone ran away sobbing. He turned around, already dreading what he would see. No, it wasn't Risa. This time, it really was that girl that kept following him. And he'd made her cry. Oops. He really should find out her name and apologise… but right now, he was just irritated. He hadn't said anything wrong! It was her own fault, for constantly annoying him.

He was just about to leave, when he heard someone coming up behind him. Evidently her crying had just been to get sympathy.

"Look!" He said harshly "I already said! I have no interest in you or your opinions, so just leave me alone and let me get on with my life in peace!"

"Excuse me? _What _did you say to me!"

"Oh nerts…" Mokuba mumbled, turning around, eyes closed. When he opened them, he saw his rather irritated head teacher.

One of those days…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The Game Shop's sign read closed, as Yugi hadn't bothered to open it yet. As all the prospective customers were in school, there wasn't much point. So, he was trying to get some of his coursework done. He was never gonna finish this essay…

Suddenly, the shop door opened, the small bell above it tinkling into the silence of the room.

"Sorry, we're closed…" Yugi muttered, trying to figure out what the question meant, not yet even attempting to figure out how to answer it.

"Oh well." The person sighed. "Maybe I'll come back later…Tell me, is the music shop still where it was before?"

Yugi looked up the second he recognised the voice.

"Huh! But you…"

A/N: Well, did ya like? I'm all excited because it's a new fic! Or that could be the pocky talking! Because I have finally acquired pocky! Do ya know how hard it is to get in this country? Well then! Anyhoo, face the wrath of my cliff-hanger! And I know it's a cliff-hanger, because Willowwind told me so and she knows all! Except who's in the Game Shop! But only two people and myself know! You all have to guess until chapter two! And that will be up next Saturday at the latest, if all goes to plan! So, R&R before I spontaneously combust and it would be a big explosion 'cause I'm full of sugar and sugar is energy so that means it BURNS! BURNNNNNNSSSSSS! MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA….


	2. Sweet Sixteen and a Spanner

A/N: Yay! Chapter two! Who was the strange person in the Game Shop? Well, I suppose he _does _act a bit strange in this chapter, but he's not a strang_er_…

Willowwind: Yes, you know all. You even know how to spell necessary without the use of the spell check. If that's not all, I don't know what is. Anyhoo, enjoy the chapter, I think you'll like Mokuba's 'daring rescue'…

Scooby2408: Yeah, but you can't spell fantastic. :P Even _I _can spell fantastic. laughs Anyhoo, I think you'll enjoy this… You already know what happens in the Game Shop to some extent, but I think you'll find this version a lil' more interesting then the original…

Disclaimer: Teenage Mokuba (the person) and all the other members of the YGO cast belong to some other lucky bugger. Teenage Mokuba (the idea) is mine, oh, and I should probably say that my little sister likes to _think _young Mokie is hers, before she hurts me… She's probably gonna hurt me for typing that. Or try to. Midget.

Anyhoo, let's get back to Mokuba, who, in the last chapter, found himself stuck in 'One of those days'…

Two: Sweet Sixteen, and a Spanner

Mokuba rested his head against a grimy window, sighing as the bus pulled away again. One more stop, and he could finally go home. And explain to Seto why he had two detentions to serve, conveniently, at the same time. (From the Headteacher and the history teacher). He hoped his brother would have a bright idea on how to do two at once- he had already tried to change one but had been told: 'Detention does not happen at your convenience, Mr Kaiba'.

So unless Seto stopped laughing long enough to help him, he was kinda screwed.

"Hey, Kaiba!" A boy called from the seat behind him. "Don't you have work today?"

"Yeah…" Mokuba said, remembering.

"Then shouldn't you have got off back there?" Mokuba blinked for a second then realised that he spoke the truth.

"Bollards!" He yelled, jumping up and ringing the stop button. "You could've told me before!"

The boy merely shook his head as Mokuba ran the length of the bus and jumped off, apologising to the disgruntled driver. That kid was so forgetful… How on Earth was he planning to run Kaiba Corp.?

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

After school three times a week and occasionally on Saturdays, Mokuba helped out at the Game Shop. The story is a strange one.

Mokuba was all set to inherit Kaiba Corp.. However, this quickly got around, and kids being the way they are, things were tough. Even the teachers were in on it: 'For those of you who _don't _have a cushy office job all lined up for you…'. The entire school was laughing, or gossiping at Mokuba's expense. What was the point of him being in school when he was just going to inherit Kaiba Corp., and be a partner in it as soon as he left?

Privately, both Mokuba and Seto agreed with them, but it wasn't worth the hassle. Finding the work easy, he excelled at pretty much everything and rarely found a challenge in it. By working hard, he impressed the teachers by being willing to work even though he technically didn't need to, and Mokuba seemed like such a decent kid that pretty much everyone laid off him.

Those who did not had to find the next thing to pick on him about. And the one they chose was his wealth.

Gradually, the 'joke' spread, and soon people were becoming jealous again, and rather bitter. They once again began to see Mokuba as a show off, though he did absolutely nothing to bring this view about. Previously, he had brought pretty much whatever he wanted without major hassle. Soon it became clear that this would not make life easier.

So, Mokuba found out what allowance most people got, figured out the average, and presented the idea to Seto. Who wasn't impressed, but went along with it anyway. From then on, Mokuba received a fairly average allowance.

And quickly discovered that this wasn't nearly enough.

So, like so many kids his age, he got a part-time job.

At the Game Shop.

Seto hadn't been particularly thrilled by that concept either. However, he eventually caved in. When Mokuba got an idea in his head, it just wasn't worth the bother of trying to stop him.

Besides, by the time Seto was told where exactly his brother was working, Mokuba had been there three months.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Arriving at the Game Shop, Mokuba glanced down at his watch, wondering if he was late. He wasn't. Good. Exactly half an hour after the shop opened.

Or usually opened, anyway. In the heat of the summer, it was easy to tell weather or not the shop was open, because the door was always flung open wide. Or it normally was, anyway. Mokuba approached the shop, sensing something was up, and peered through the shining glass window, between a sign advertising _Magic the Gathering _and details of someone's lost cat.

What he saw inside the gloom of the shop startled him, making him leap back, heart pounding. Yugi and some guy were in there.

And the other guy had a knife.

He had been leaning over, attempting to stab Yugi through!

Mokuba cast about him desperately, looking for something, _anything _he could use to help. And he saw it.

Running across the road in complete disregard of the traffic, Mokuba reached the bank oppisite. The shop front was being done up, and so it was covered in scaffolding. (The workers themselves were nowhere to be seen surprise, surprise) And lying on the scaffolding, waiting for him, was a large spanner.

Mokuba swung the spanner experimentally. It wasn't bad. And considering that he was the lead batsman whenever the school team ended up in a rounders match, (A/N: Like a simpler, friendlier version of baseball, those of you who are American-ised) his hastily thrown together plan may just work.

What was he doing! Standing around like this! There wasn't any time to spare!

Mokuba dashed back across the road, heart thumping. His plan wasn't elegant. It wasn't even smart. But it might work. Pausing only briefly in a fleeting attempt not to set the bell on top of the shop door jangling (a failed attempt, but hey, he tried), Mokuba leapt into the Game Shop and got the knife-wielding manic square in the back of the head with the spanner.

The guy sunk like a rock.

Now, Mokuba was not one who usually played the hero. He was laid back and rarely angry or stressed about anything. (Except on days like today when _everything _went wrong). He had only got into a fight once, when someone started to insult his dead parents. And now, here he was, saving his soon-to-be employer, (When Grandpa retired! Huzzah!) who appeared to be unscathed, from some jerk with a knife!

Mokuba felt proud for approximately half a second until he saw the look on Yugi's face.

"Mokuba." Yugi asked, deceptively calm. "_Why _have you just jumped into the shop and knocked him out with a spanner?"

"Well…" Mokuba said, shifting uncomfortably as he began to get the feeling he'd just _seriously _cocked up. "…He was threatening you with a knife, so I… ahem…knocked him out with a spanner…"

"Ah." Yugi said, bending to check the guy was still breathing. "Did you stop to look who you were hitting?"

"Oh…" Mokuba trailed. He looked down, and recognised the guy on the floor.

"Oh!" He repeated in surprise.

One of those days… But why did all this stuff have to happen at once!

Thankfully, when he woke up, Ryou was very good about the whole affair, and actually seemed to find the entire episode rather amusing.

Or maybe that was the concussion.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The Game Shop's sign read closed, as Yugi hadn't bothered to open it yet. As all the prospective customers were in school, there wasn't much point. So, he was trying to get some of his coursework done. He was never gonna finish this essay…

Suddenly, the shop door opened, the small bell above it tinkling into the silence of the room.

"Sorry, we're closed…" Yugi muttered, trying to figure out what the question meant, not yet even attempting to figure out how to answer it.

"Oh well." The person sighed. "Maybe I'll come back later…Tell me, is the music shop still where it was before?"  
Yugi looked up the second he recognised the voice.

"Huh! But you…"

"Are looking for the music shop?" The man guessed, grinning, before returning his friend's exuberant greeting.

"Ryou!" Yugi said eventually "What are you doing here? I thought you were travelling!"

"I am!" Ryou shrugged "We were in Korea, so we figured we'd take a little detour and come see you guys! So, what have you been doing? How is everyone?"

"Nothing of interest, but everyone's fine… Joey and Mai have left town."

"Really? Where are they?"

"Uh-uh. _You're_ the one who's been half way round the globe! You have to tell your stories first!"

"You make it sound as though I'll have some to tell." Ryou said mysteriously.

"Don't give me that!" Yugi pouted, pocking him in the side. Ryou was still way taller then him. "You'd be-"

Just then, the lights sparked and went out, and the shop was plunged into an eerie twilight.

"Damn." Yugi cursed. "The fuse must've blown…" He scowled and bent over the fuse box at the back of the room. Then he shrugged sheepishly. "Would you believe… I have no idea how to change the things?"

Ryou laughed. "Here, I'll do it." He pulled a screwdriver seemingly out of nowhere, muttering to himself "Looks like you've got one of these things where you have to unscrew the front…" He leant over to do so, and had just worked the second screw out when Mokuba leapt into the shop and hit him over the head with a spanner.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"That's quite a swing you have." Ryou said good naturedly, accepting the bag of frozen peas off Yugi and pressing them to the growing lump on the back of his head. "Have you ever considered playing cricket?"

"Um… no…" Mokuba said, wondering if this interlude was going to cost him his job. And why Ryou was randomly bringing up cricket. "I don't understand how to play…"

Ryou considered him thoughtfully. "No…" he said eventually. "Neither do I… I wonder if anyone actually knows. I mean, I more or less know how to play Brokian Ultra Cricket, but that's more about smacking people round the head then…Whatever cricket's about. You'd be good at it, Mokuba."

Mokuba was saved from answering (and quite possibly another apology on his part) by the bell sounding in the shop. "I'll do it!" He volunteered "After all, I'm supposed to work here…"

"Tell them we're closed." Yugi sighed after him.

"Sorry, we're closed right now!" Mokuba called cheerily as he went out into the shop front "But if you come back later we…can…"

He trailed to a close as he saw the woman wasn't listening to a word he was saying, and was instead examining the shelf of gaming magazines near the front door.

He cleared his throat and tried again. "I said-"

"I heard ya, little buddy." The person said, putting the magazine back on the shelf. "Sorry." She apologised. Her accent was strange, but not place able to any particular country that Mokuba knew. Obviously foreign, at any rate. "I was just trying to read that mag there… Not easy, in the dark. Don't you people have lights?"

"Well…" Mokuba began uneasily. "The fuse kinda blew and…"

"Doesn't anyone know how to fix it?" The girl frowned. She was strangely dressed, in a flat cap covered in badges of flags from around the world, a statement that seemed oddly familiar… She also wore a long coat made of multi-coloured patches, that inevitably reminded Mokuba of Joseph and the Coat of many Colours from RE. Apart from that, the girl and her clothes were quite normal, just jeans and a shirt, slightly scruffy trainers, and long black hair.

"Fix it…Well, you see…" Mokuba decided not to explain what had happened and instead made up his mind to get back to the original point. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but we're closed so…"

"Oh, sorry!" The girl said, covering her mouth. "I didn't mean to come off as rude, I just wanted to-"

It was at this point that Ryou and Yugi appeared to investigate.

"Find him." The girl completed, smiling as she pointed at Ryou.

"Jenna!" Ryou grinned back "Gosh, it's great to see you, I didn't know you spoke Japanese as well, are you done unpacking already?"

Jenna raised an eyebrow. "What's up with you?" She asked, taking in the bag of frozen peas he was still holding to his head, then shrugged. "On second thought, I don't want to know. And no, I'm not done unpacking. In fact, I haven't even started. All our baggage is left with that nice doorman in your apartment block."

Ryou blinked. "Really? What a nice man! I mean, you couldn't carry the bags round with you! They're heavy! You know, you must be really smart to think to leave them with him!"

Jenna sighed. "Look, I couldn't get into the flat because you didn't give me the keys, moron. You never forget anything else, why is it always keys?"

"Ah, Keys." Ryou sighed whimsically "Tricky little blighters. But you can't unlock doors without keys! Then you can't get into places! Well, you can if the door isn't locked, but you need a key if the door is! I know! I'll go and unlock the door and then we can get in! Because you can't get into the flat without the key, ya know!"

He ran out of the shop door.

Jenna blinked after him and sidled up to Yugi. "Okay, I give. What _is _up with him?"

"He got hit round the head with a spanner…" Yugi replied, glaring at Mokuba, who cringed.

"I should've known…" Jenna sighed, rubbing her forehead. "He's always like this when he's concussed." Then she blinked. "Oh, we were never introduced. I'm Jenna Notlaw, I travel with Ryou. And you're Yugi Motto." Yugi took the offered hand and shook it.

"That's right." He said. "How did you know?"

"I heard so much about you and the others, I practically know you all personally." Jenna dismissed, beginning to head out of the shop. "Well, I better go make sure he doesn't kill himself… It was nice meeting ya, Yugi, Kaiba."

"Wait!" Mokuba yelled. "How do you know my name?"

"I may have been travelling round the world, but I'm not totally blind!" Was Jenna's only response as she headed out. "Later!"

Yugi and Mokuba regarded each other. Eventually, Yugi sighed and rubbed his head.

"You may as well go home, Mokuba." He said. "There's not much point in opening the shop now… I think it's just one of those days…"

"You're telling me… Oh, Yugi… um… Do I still…?"

"No, Mokuba. You're not fired. Even though you really should be…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The following afternoon, business was slow in the shop. So, Yugi had suddenly pulled out his old and well used deck, and announced that he would duel Mokuba.

Mokuba _did_ have a deck, and out of habit he carried it round, but it had been years since it had been used. So it was with some surprise and happiness that he pulled out his deck and accepted the challenge.

When they were about half way through, Ryou entered the shop, still wearing his threadbare backpack. This time Mokuba registered the flag badges from the countries he'd visited pinned on it. That's why they had seemed familiar on Jenna's hat…

Speaking of whom, he found himself wondering yet again what kind of relationship Jenna and Ryou had. Were they just friends? Or were they…

Not wanting to interrupt the duel, Ryou sat down on the edge of the counter and pulled out a large hardback text book. Mokuba couldn't read the cover, but it looked very complicated. Ryou informed them he was trying to keep up with his own Uni course- he didn't want to forget everything during his year out. Mokuba noticed that he put on glasses to read. Evidently his eyes had got worse at some point during the time they hadn't seen him.

Mokuba held his breath, wondering if Yugi would notice…

He did.

"Oh no you don't!" Yugi yelled, "Stop cheating, you! Looking at what you'll draw next like that!"

"Well, I'm gonna have to cheat if I'm going to beat you…" Mokuba pouted. "How did you see?"

"I'm used to cheats." Yugi said. He nudged Ryou. "Before he left, Ryou here was always the worse for it…"

Ryou looked up in surprise, apparently having been completely absorbed in his book. Then he smiled.

"Hey." He defended "There is nothing wrong with a little cheating now and again…" He flipped the dust jacket off the front of his book to show them that underneath the text book cover, it was not the suspected text book and was, in fact _The Lord of the Rings Complete Collection- Hardback Edition._

Mokuba laughed and Yugi shook his head.

"I would've thought you'd be sick of rings…" He said a little sadly.

"Believe me, I am." Ryou said, marking his page and slamming the heavy book shut. "Anyway, you were always the worst cheater out of all of us…"

"Huh?" Yugi blinked.

"You didn't even play your own duels." Ryou said mildly.

"Well, I guess that's true…" Yugi laughed slightly.

Mokuba was, by now, completely lost. He was about to ask for an explanation when the telephone rang. Yugi excused himself and a moment later his voice echoed out from the back of the shop.

"Hello, Game Shop… Oh hey! Good to… What? Oh yes? Look, just…"

Ryou raised his eyebrows as Yugi continued in this fashion. "So," he said eventually. "Where's Yugi's grandpa these days?"

"Goodness knows…" Mokuba groaned. "He's joined so many OAP clubs it's untrue…"

Ryou seemed to find this idea funny and laughed for a while as Yugi's voice continued to drift into the room.

"…Alright. Will do. Do you want me to as- Yeah, I will. Look, don't panic! I won't. Yeah. Yes, I have it. Yes! Look, just hang up! Trust me, already! …Alright. Thanks. You're welcome. Yes, bye… bye."

He reappeared.

"Guess who that was." He said.

"Joey." Ryou and Mokuba chorused. Evidently they'd both heard phone conversations with the blond before.

Yugi nodded. "Yeah. I haven't heard from him in a while. I was going to tell him you were here, Ryou, but he didn't let me get a word in edgeways, and now…" He grinned. "I have a much better idea."

"Oh no." Ryou said, smiling to show he was joking "I hate it when you're devious…"

Yugi grinned and gave them the low down of the conversation. "Well, here's the thing. It's Serenity's 16th on Friday, and Joey wants to take her out, but he can't book the restaurant and invite everyone without her hearing. So he asked me to do it."

"Sixteen…" Ryou muttered. "Goodness."

"Mai's already visiting him," Yugi continued. "So she's done. Plus Tristan, Duke, Téa and you two…"

"Me?" Both of them said.

"Sure!" Yugi smiled. "Ryou, you'll surprise everyone, and Mokuba… Well, Joey asked me to invite you, after all, you got on pretty well with Serenity at Battle city…"

Mokuba cringed. Did _everyone _know about that?

"Oh, and by the way…" Yugi said, heading out of the room again. "I activate Poison of the Old Man in order to do 800 points direct damage, bringing you down to zero."

Mokuba groaned and rested his head on the counter.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"When?" Seto asked.

"After school on Friday." Mokuba replied, crossing his fingers. He seriously didn't expect his brother to let him, especially with his seemingly personal feud against the Wheelers.

"Fine." Seto said.

"Oh…" Mokuba blinked in surprise. "Thanks Seto." He quietly left the room, leaving his brother to his work. That was easy.

Seto sighed in a mixture of discontent and relief. At least Mokuba would be out of the house when it all kicked off. He shut the E-mail and turned off his laptop. It was no use. For once in his life, and as much as he hated to admit it, he was completely at this jerk's mercy.

There was nothing he could do.

But sometime, there would be… and he'd be ready for the time when it came.

For now, he'd have to wait and hope he'd survive.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

On Friday night, Serenity gave a cry of delight as she walked into the restaurant with her brother and Mai only to see all her friends, the ones she hadn't seen for so long, waiting for her.

Okay, some may argue that Yugi, Tristan, Téa and Duke were her brother's friends, but all that time ago they were there for her and if it wasn't for them, she'd be blind and quite possibly still trapped in a virtual prison. She had once been close to these guys, and she felt that bond spring up again now. Even Mokuba Kaiba had turned up. Now, there was a face she hadn't seen in a while.

After berating her brother for surprising her and finding out exactly how it had all been arraigned, Serenity sat down and felt very, very happy. For a moment, she wondered why Yugi had booked an extra seat, but it quickly faded away at the shouts of happy birthday and catching-up talks took over the table.

"I couldn't get hold of Ryou." Yugi said solemnly at one point. "Goodness knows where he is…"

"Probably up a mountain having a spiritual discussion with a three-legged goat." Duke dismissed, thus lightening the mood again considerably, especially as the scene described was so easy to imagine.

They were half-concentrating on the task of choosing food, but really more concerned with talk when it happened.

The celebratory chatter was in full swing when Ryou walked hurriedly over and sat down in the empty chair.

"Sorry I'm late!" He cried into the suddenly empty silence, he pushed a present over to Serenity. "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find this place… Happy Birthday, anyway! May there be many more…" He looked round, apparently surprised at the shocked and staring faces.

"What?" He asked, his mouth twitching as he tried desperately to hold in a laugh. "What's up with you g-!"

As you can imagine, he was interrupted by Téa suddenly diving across the table and hugging him hard. This got the conversation going again, and by the time the food had arrived it was as though he'd never left.

That night was the most fun Mokuba had had for quite a while. And considering that his 'one of those days' had turned into 'one of those weeks', it was exactly what he needed to blow off steam.

They had finished eating and were now sitting round the table waiting for all the sugar they'd eaten to kick in and trying to muster the energy to leave.

"You know," Ryou began slowly "This reminds me of a time in France…"

The others groaned, and there were various voices telling him to shush. They had heard many of his traveller's tales that night, and every single one seemed to have an amusing twist. If he started again, they'd end up in another conversation for and hour or two. And the waiter was already glaring at them- They'd paid, why weren't they leaving?

All too soon, it was time to go their separate ways again.

"We'll have to meet up again soon." Joey said.

"Yeah." Téa agreed. "We left this way too long."

Mai was the first to leave. "Well, it's my flight back to France in a few hours." She sighed. "I better jet. See ya everyone! Enjoy your visit, Ryou!"

They saw her off, and everyone began to head back to their own cars. Mokuba had walked to the place right after school- he hadn't even had time to change out of his uniform; so now it looked like he was gonna have to walk in the dark.

"Hey, kid!" Duke yelled suddenly. "If you want a lift, hurry up! I'm going past your place anyway… So if you're coming, then come on!"

Mokuba shrugged and ran over to the car. Hey, even Duke's erratic driving would beat walking.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Mokuba lifted a hand in farewell as Duke's car spun off into the night, feeling a little relieved, not to mention nauseous. Next time Duke offered a lift, he'd decline.

Mokuba took a deep breath and looked up at the stars. At risk of sounding like Téa, even they seemed to shine more brightly that night. He'd had fun. And, in years to come, that would always be where he'd start his story, however irrelevant it was. He looked upwards once more, before beginning the long trek up the drive way to his home, not knowing what would await him there.

It was some minutes and some relief later that Mokuba fell through the doorway into the hallway of his home.

"Hey, Seto, I'm back!" He yelled. No answer returned from the dark house. Frowning, Mokuba shoved his door key into his pocket and tried again. "Seto?"

It was late, yes, but not so late that his brother would be asleep… if he ever slept that was. But it could easily be that Seto could be lurking somewhere in the depths of the extensive mansion and so couldn't hear him. Or, if he had gone out, Seto had a tendency of leaving notes in really obscure places where he though Mokuba would find them but in actual fact wouldn't. So, Mokuba began to scour the mansion in the hopes of finding his brother therein.

Half way through, he began to grow uneasy. No brother. And no lit rooms.

Three quarters of the way through, he was beginning to get scared. Still no brother. Still no lights. Still no sign that anyone had been there at all.

After checking all the rooms and having somehow finished on the first floor, Mokuba willed himself to stay calm. He needed to check everywhere again for a note, or try Seto's phone- though he usually got the busy signal. Heading down the main stairs, he began to try to remember all the strange places Seto tended to leave notes, when he saw one.

It was stuck to the back of the front door; he hadn't noticed it on the way in. Mokuba hurried down the stairs to read it , smiling because his brother had finally put a note in a place that he might see it…

The smile faded the second he read it. Mokuba backed away a little, as though the note itself might bite him, then shook his head, ran forward, flung the door open and rushed out into the black of the night. Maybe he was panicked, but he knew he couldn't stay there a moment longer.

As the front door slammed shut behind him, the note, the innocent piece of paper stuck to the door, came dislodged and drifted to the floor, glaring it's words up at the ceiling.

_Opps. _It said, in a writing that defiantly wasn't Seto's neat print. It wasn't even the elder Kaiba's rushed scrawl. _Looks like we came at a bad time… Don't worry though, we got half of what we wanted. And we'll back for the other half later, so please make sure you're ready to be collected. Otherwise, what use will your brother be to us, hey? Thanks so much!_

Innocent words used to portray a message that was anything but. In the silence of the empty Kaiba mansion, the words gloated into the darkness, waiting for someone to return and read them once again.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Bow to the power of the cliffie! Or you could all review and yell at me to update… Which may or may not happen on Friday. I have exams the week after next, so I have to revise. Plus I'm away on Saturday and Sunday so… But I'll try. After all, how cruel would it be to leave you all hanging through next week (Because of revision) the week after (because of exams) and the week after (to write the thing)? I'm not that cruel… but my school might be. I'll do my best folks.

Homework, coursework and exams all suck, in case no-one's noticed.


	3. Tricky Little Blighters

A/N: Wow! Chapter three! And my exams start tomorrow! _(Runs round in small panicking circles) _Ahhhhhhh! Ahem. Anyhoo, sorry this was not up on Saturday, I was in a tin box. That is, a caravan. And I was totally writing this at 2:00am in a thunderstorm to. Hmmph.

Disclaimer: Please, just tell me, has anyone actually _been _sued?

Reviews:

Willowwind: Randomlicious... Ahem. Poor Ryou... at least he isn't hit on the head with a spanner this time.

Scooby2408: ... Yeah, I guess it was... But you didn't want me to get Ryou run over on the next zebra crossing by trying to prove that black was white in his injured state, did you? (Have you seen the film yet?)

Now, onto number 3!

Three: Tricky Little Blighters

Mokuba ran and ran, though he did not know where he was going or what he was hoping to achieve, He just had to get away from the mansion, if he was captured he would never be able to help Seto, wherever he was and whatever he needed saving from!

It is said that humans use very little of their potential brain capacity. Well, that was certainly true for Mokuba now. That single thought- that he couldn't be caught- drove his legs forward, stretched his lungs to their full volume, left his muscles screaming for mercy.

He ran and ran and ran, till he fell against a lamppost, breathing heavily. He was by now a long way away, but in his mind he could still read that note.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Just what, exactly, do you want from me?"

"All will be revealed in due course, Mr Kaiba… when we have ensured your… cooperation."

"I see. And I thought cooperation meant you had a choice."

"Oh, you'll get a choice, but I don't think you'll appreciate it when it comes."

"Try me."

"Fine, but first let me ask a question of my own… Are you aware of the effect of chloroform on the human body?"

If he hadn't been, he was now.

Or would be when he woke up, anyway.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Mokuba leant forward, trying to regain his breath. Like his lungs and heart, his brain was working furiously. He _had _to find somewhere to go. Given his current situation, aka, having no idea what to do, he was pretty useless out on the street.

He ran options through his mind. As far as he could tell, he had several places he could go. Doug Mitsan, for one. But then, it would seem strange if his daughter's boyfriend's little brother turned up. Besides, Mokuba barely knew the guy and Anna was off visiting her mother, so that was out. Perhaps he should go to Yugi's- Yugi had helped him out of countless scrapes, and had even let him keep his job after Monday's fiasco! Mokuba imagined what would happen if he went there, and moments later made an unexpected decision. He scanned the skyline, and having pin-pointed the apartment block near Yugi's, rising tall above everything else, he got walking.

He was unable to help the fact that he was walking faster then usual.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Ryou looked from one side to the other. It was a hard choice. In front of him were two books- _I, Robot _by Isaac Asimov and the first in Anne McCaffery's 'Dragonriders of Pern' series. Tough one. Traditional Sci-Fi? Or more of a fantasy? Well, he had just finished LotR- possibly the most famous fantasy series ever- so perhaps he should go for Sci-Fi on this one.

But then, he had read _I, Robot _thousands of times- his copy was looking rather bedraggled now. Besides, he had been itching to read the _Pern_ series for ages; he had been lucky to find a copy in that bookshop round the corner.

So, McCaffery it was.

Still, it was getting late, and it had been a long, if thoroughly enjoyable night. Maybe he should stick with something familiar.

"Jenna?" He called, sticking his head round the bedroom door. "Asimov or McCaffery?" he held them up. They were always discussing things like this, although it has to be said that Jenna was more _Star Wars _and Terry Prachett then anything else. Nor could she quite understand what his obsession with books was. Actually, neither could he. He had always read a lot, but it was defiantly more then before he left Japan…

He wasn't surprised when Jenna gave no response. As usual, she had a walkman blaring. Ryou could hear it across half a room and a hallway. In fairness, the door _was _open, but still… Jenna was frowning and making notes onto a worn book that was balancing precariously on her knees. She seemed fully absorbed in whatever she was doing, so it was probably best to leave her.

But she seemed worried, so he shouldn't let her brood. He had just made his way into the main room, about to attract her attention and ask her what was wrong, when the buzzer from the door echoed down the hall. Ryou frowned a little, wondering who would be calling round at this hour. Dumping _I, Robot _and _Dragonflight _onto a small table he left the room again, hitting the pause button on Jenna's walkman as he past. Much to her annoyance.

"Mokuba?" He asked in surprise as he opened the door to reveal the very same person.

"Ryou!" Mokuba replied, babbling desperately "Can I please stay here tonight!"

"Um… Sure…" Ryou blinked, standing aside to let him in.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Mokuba followed Ryou into the sitting room. Jenna was already there, her legs hooked over the arm of a chair, reading the blurb of a book.

"Mokuba, Jenna; Jenna, Mokuba." Ryou said simply, gesturing appropriately. Jenna glanced up and smiled.

"Well, hello again." She said. "You're the one who knocked Ryou out with a spanner, right?"

Mokuba nodded embarrassedly. Before she had recognised him as a Kaiba. Now he was the kid with the spanner. Figured.

"Mokuba's going to stay here tonight." Ryou supplied, sounding a little confused himself.

"Fine by me." Jenna shrugged, pointing at the book she was holding. Mokuba couldn't read the title as it was written in Western letters, but there was a rather impressive Robot on the front. "Hey, Ryou." Jenna continued. "Are you reading this, or can I borrow it?"

"McCaffery then." Ryou smiled.

"Huh?"

"Never mind." He sighed, shaking his head "Just go ahead and read it. You want something to eat or drink?"

Mokuba shook his head. "No thanks. I'm fine."

'Fine' was so _not _the word for it.

"I do!" Jenna yelled enthusiastically.

"You," Ryou replied, hitting her playfully on her arm. "Can get your own."

"Ah, go on…" Jenna begged. "You're so much better in the kitchen then me…"

"Too true!" Ryou whispered to Mokuba "She burns everything! I'm beginning to think she does it on purpose just to get out of cooking…" None the less, he relented and went in what was presumably the direction of the kitchen.

"Ryou's right, you know." Jenna said suddenly, sticking her tongue out after the retreating Ryou. "You should play cricket." Seeing that Mokuba was going to be unresponsive, she gave up.

"Excuse me." She said politely, picking up her fallen notebook and flicking through the notes she'd been making earlier. Then Ryou re-entered the room and threw a biscuit at her head.

"You want more, get it yourself, lazy!" He teased.

Mokuba watched in bewilderment as Jenna stood up and began to chase the white-haired boy all round the room.

It hadn't been what he'd been expecting.

But then, he doubted Ryou had been expecting it either.

The chase ended a minute later when Ryou, armed with a cushion, managed to beat the enraged girl back.

"I can't work in these conditions!" Jenna sobbed dramatically- an effect that was rather tainted by her tousled hair and the huge bite she took from the hastily reclaimed biscuit. "I'm leaving!" She 'stormed' out of the room, disappearing a moment later. Ryou shut the door behind her, and regarded Mokuba.

"I'm afraid you'll have to use the sofa." He said eventually. "Jenna's in the only spare room I have here."

"Okay. Thanks."

They lapsed into silence again.

"So…" Mokuba began "How long have you two been going out?"

"We're not." Came the shrugged reply.

"Ah." Mokuba said uncomfortably.

Ryou studied Mokuba, his face inscrutable.

Mokuba studied the floor, wondering how he would, and should, answer the inevitable questions when they came.

"You don't want me to ask, do you?" Ryou said evenly.

Mokuba looked up, unable to believe his ears, but then he saw that Ryou was serious, and so slowly shook his head.

"In that case, I'm going to bed." Ryou yawned, standing up. "Just one thing… does your brother know you're here?"

Mokuba shook his head miserably.

"Do you want to let him know?"

Another shake of his head. He couldn't. Of course, Ryou didn't know that. But Mokuba really wasn't in the mood to explain himself right now.

"Ah. Alright…" Ryou sounded a little uncertain, but decided to let the matter drop. "There's pillows and blankets in that cupboard behind you. Goodnight, Mokuba."

"'Night." Mokuba replied.

And much, much later, unable to sleep, he appreciated Ryou for being such a seemingly nice person.

Even if he, and especially his friend, were a little weird.

Maybe it was something to do with the English weather…

But he'd figure that one, and everything else, out in the morning.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The next day was strange. He just kinda existed, without really doing anything. Drifted along, through time but somehow not in it. Minutes seemed to last hours, but hours were over in a second.

Not that Ryou and Jenna seemed particularly bothered. That afternoon, Ryou decided it was time Jenna saw the city. Or more of it then she'd seen whilst looking for him, anyway. Unfortunately, when proposing this idea to her, he got no response from the girl who was doing the whole walkman-notes-in-notepad thing again.

"What is the matter with you?" Ryou asked, prising the headphones off her.

"Listen and find out." Jenna replied darkly. "I got this CD just before we left the airport in Korea. An English group. Brand new album. This song's been in the chart for weeks, apparently…"

Ryou frowned a little, wondering what was annoying her so. As he listened to the music coming out of the headphones, the frown deepened.

"It's our song!" He cried eventually, throwing down the headphones and grabbing the CD case. "Who do they say wrote this!" He demanded.

"They claim they wrote it." Jenna sighed.

"But you wrote this song!" Ryou said, sounding a little confused. "How did they-"

"They heard it, remember? They were the celebrity guests at the Leprosy Mission thingy! Do ya think we can sue the little…" She fell into a raging torrent of abuse.

"Not unless you suddenly took to taking out copyrights on your songs." Ryou sank into a chair, rubbing his forehead. "You know what? Just forget it. Let it go, Jenna. It's not like we're serious about being a band or anything… It was just for fun."

"I will not let it go!" Jenna screamed "I'm a student! If a huge band is gonna steal my songs, I could use the money! Besides, it's the whole thing! This song is at number one in England, Ryou! I deserve the credit!" She took a deep breath. "And so… I am going to send them one scathing E-mail!" She banged out the room.

"I expect you're wondering what that was all about." Ryou grimaced. Mokuba wasn't, not beyond a vague interest, but he sat back and let Ryou explain none the less.

He had met Jenna in college, and she was taking music. Part of that, of course, involved composing music. Now, song lyrics had been easy, but the tune… She found that a little harder, to say the least. Especially as the only instrument she could play was the drums, and not very well at that.

"As it turned out," Ryou said, smirking at the memories. "I had picked up how to play guitar back at Domino High. With Azreal, as it happens. Where is she, anyway?"

"Visiting her mom." Mokuba replied dully.

"Oh. It was then I found out that some of our other friends were musical as well, suffice to say that one could sing like you wouldn't believe, another was forever trying to outdo me on a guitar and one could find her way with ease round a keyboard. Of course, when Jenna found out… We became her 'drafting table', if you like. We tried her songs out. Actually, she got pretty good at it in the end…she's sold quite a few of them…But I divulge. Anyway, it came to the point when the composing part of her course was over, but she didn't want to stop writing. And we were rather enjoying playing at being a band. I have to admit, I've got pretty into the whole guitar thing…" He laughed "Enough to try and get one on a plane with me all the time anyway. And when we all went to different Unis, it was a way to meet up once a week, ya know? Before Jenn and I left, we played quite a lot. Not often in Public… a couple of College things, a few minor competitions, charity concerts… And it looks like someone's heard her last song and taken it for themselves. So, excuse me while I go and make sure that she really is just sending an E-mail and hasn't broken out to go and kill someone." He left the room.

Mokuba blinked. That had gone completely over his head… Although it did explain the electric guitar standing in the corner.

o-o-o-o-o-_ Fall through the mists of time…_o-o-o-o

_"Arrgh!" Jenna screamed in frustration, causing half the canteen to jump out of their skins and the other half to glare at her accusingly at her. She, however, remained oblivious, screwing up the piece of paper and hurling it across the table._

_Laura just sighed and pulled the half-written song out of her sandwich for the umpteempth time. She was beginning to regret sitting opposite Jenna… "Would you just calm down, please?" She begged._

_"I've got to have a song by next week…" Jenna groaned, resting her head on the table. And in Laura's sandwich, though the despondent girl didn't seem to notice the bread sticking to her head. "I like the lyrics, but the melody… It just sounds all screwed…"_

_"Cheer up…" Sanders said half heatedly, more concerned with his lunch then anything else. Ryou and John, however, had retrieved the screwed up paper and, having unfolding it, were pouring over it, muttering._

_"I think…" Ryou said slowly, trying to prise Jenna's head off the table. "That with a bit of work, we can make this tune a song…"_

_"A whole lot of work." John said bluntly, already scribbling all over the paper. "Good job we're here to help, or you would've failed this course already."_

_"I'll forgive you for that comment," Jenna grinned "If you can make this crap cool."_

o-o-o-o-o _Back to Reality…_o-o-o-o-o

It was only as Mokuba lay on Ryou's sofa after agreeing to stay another night that he realised. Strange how it took him to when he tried to get to sleep that he woke up.

_He had wasted a whole day!_

Mokuba sat up suddenly. How could he have done that? A whole day when he could have been doing something, _anything _to help! Who knew what had happened to Seto in that time? And now he'd have to wait till the next day to do anything!

Even as he thought it, Mokuba knew he couldn't wait. The first thing to do, he decided, would be to go back to the Mansion and see what he could find out.

As quietly as he possibly could, Mokuba slid off the sofa, out of the living room, and into the hall. He turned the door handle slowly, trying not to make an excessive amount of noise.

Unfortunately for him, Ryou was a very light sleeper.

"Mokuba, where are you going?" He asked, sounding concerned.

Mokuba sighed and turned around. Caught.

"Please, just let me go!" He tried desperately.

"…I'm sorry." Ryou said slowly. "But I can't do that. You have to understand, Mokuba, first you turn up with no explanation, and now you're trying to run! What am I supposed to tell people, hey?"

"I guess…" Mokuba replied quietly.

"I'm not going to stop you." Ryou said tiredly. "Just, for heaven's sake, explain what's going on!"

Mokuba did.

"…So I really need to go back to the mansion and see what I can find! Who knows what'll happen otherwise!" He concluded.

Ryou contemplated everything he'd heard. He knew he should try to stop the teen- if these people had got Kaiba, they had to be dangerous- but considering everything they'd done at fifteen… They hadn't had a choice. Mokuba did.

But did he? Wouldn't he just go, no matter what? Did he really have a choice?

"Alright." Ryou nodded. "Just be careful. Oh, and just because Yugi felt inclined to save people in a school uniform doesn't mean you have to. Get a change of clothes, okay?"

Mokuba nodded. "Fine. I'll try to come back and tell you if I find anything." He went out the flat door and started running down the hall.

"Thanks, Ryou!" He called back.

"Good luck." Was Ryou's only response.

He stood alone for a while, in quiet contemplation. He did not cry. He cried all he needed to long ago.

A moment later, he felt Jenna approach from behind him. She was a light sleeper to. Evidently she knew exactly what was going on.

"Well?" She demanded. "Are you just going to let him go all on his own?"

"I went back to England to get away from adventures." Ryou shrugged. Jenna was the one of the few people who knew- and believed- what had happened to him in Japan. She came and stood in front of him now, shorter then him, but currently much more dominating.

"True." She conceded, looking him right in the eye. "But then why did you come back?"

She watched as Ryou suddenly realised she spoke the truth.

"I'll be back by morning!" He promised, squeezing her hand gratefully. "Wait for me."

He ran out the flat.

Jenna shut the door behind him, shaking her head.

He'd forgotten his keys again.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: D'oh. I hate keys to... I lost mine. I think they're still attacking a city. Oh, and by the way... Asimov and Anne McCaffery. I have read a lot of Asimov. I love _I, Robot_! You should all go read it! As for Anne McCaffery's books, before anyone points it out, I know she blends fantasy _and_ sci-fi. But come on. The series is based around DRAGONS. Give me a break. And I know she doesn't want fanfics written, and I respect that. But still, she's a great writer, so what's the harm in pointing it out?

And the whole thing about Ryou being in a band. That was put in for 3 reasons:

1. To annoy _certain people _who disagreed with me about the guitar thing that one lunchtime.

2. I was bored and I wanted to extend the chapter.

3. For reasons that will be revealed later in the fic and the sequel to Amusing when it is written... you'll have to wait and see. But it'll be fun.

Well, that was a long A/N... time to go and revise. Sigh.


	4. Bettered by a Fool

A/N: This time they have gone TOO far! ITV, you are going DOWN! Guess what people! The last episode we saw was Joey and Yugi beating the Big Five, today we saw the final episode of Enter the Shadow Realm! That's right! They cut out the duel with Noah AND Gozoburo, AND the semi-finals AND the finals themselves! Oh, and let's not forget that they only showed five episodes of before they got on the blimp in the first place, and that they only showed the conclusion on the Yami/Yami Bakura duel! And the Mai/Marik duel! And, yeah, pretty much everything except the pre-Noah-duel Virtual world arc was cut to pieces. And why did they do this, you ask? To catch up with America and put on the next series, I hear you say? No! So they can put on a double bill of SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! Oh, the humanity…

Just had to get that off my chest. No more YGO for Waffles… _(Sniffle)_

Oh, something things I meant to address last chapter, but forgot…:

1. You may remember that in chapter three Mokuba mentioned that he could go to Doug Mitsan's before deciding to go to Ryou's. Well, for those that don't know, he is the father of an OC from my other fic, Azreal/Anna. This fic is Amusing for Inspiration, and yes, this does tie in with it pretty directly. None in the four fics there will one day be with her in them need to be read as a series, they're not even written in the right order, and they can be easily read independently. Basically, after I wrote Amusing I decided that there would be another three fics- This one, a more direct sequel to Amusing and one about their children. So, after It's My Move is all done, we'll go back in time to exactly one year after Amusing for the second adventure of Azreal! In other words, look out for the references various characters will make as to the as of yet un-written fic, and look out for Azreal in later chapters!

2. FAR MORE IMPORTANTLY, (See, the capitals were to get your attention!) You may remember that Jenna said her song was stolen at 'The Leprosy Mission thingy'. For those of you who did not spend four months worth of Tuesday nights, cutting up stamps, let me explain. You should all know what leprosy is; a desise that kills nerves. But did you know that it can cost as little as £10 (About $12 US, if my conversion is correct) to cure someone of Leprosy forever? Leprosy mission is a charity that, by selling USED stamps raises money to help people. You can help just by keeping the stamps off your letters! And right about now, I would have an internet address for you, but I kept the leaflet in my coat pocket and it rained… hee hee hee… But if my good friend Scooby2408, who I know keeps absolutely everything, would be so kind as to send it to me, I can put it up next chapter.

Disclaimer: Nope, nada, nothing.

Review Responses:

Icehaven: Glad you liked it:D Here's the update... and I bet 'Oh crap' would mirror Mokuba's thoughts exactly. Espically after the whole thing with the spanner...

SOS: Hee hee hee... your name spells out SOS! (Sorry, I'm too short on time right now to right out your full name) I fully intend to keep writing, so hang around to see what happens!

Kaibafan101: You think this is 'good work'! WOW! I'm so flattered! _(Bounces off walls)_

Dragonlady222: I wish _I _was still in the Virtual World Arc... But I divulge. I also have a confession to make... I love Asimov, esp. I, Robot (Bet I've read it more times then Ryou:P) But I really haven't read much McCaffery: Only The Rowan and part of Dragondawn. You see, I can never find the first book in the Pern series! D'oh. Glad you're enjoying the fic!

Willowwind: I love Dragons! Stupid hobbit kills the dragon..._(Has been talking to sisterabout The Hobbit again)_ You want to know what happened to Seto? Well, here it is! And what is this sleep you speak of...? Meh. I don't seem to have time for it anymore...

Gasp! So many reviews! I could just faint! It makes up even for the stinking GMTV people! I'm so happy, I'll repeat: I could just faint! No, actually, I better post the fic first. But I assure you, there will be much fainting later.

And after what is quite possibly my longest A/N ever, let's FINALLY get on with the fic!

Four: Bettered By a Fool

"Explain."

"Forgive me, Mr Kaiba, but I don't think you're in any position to give orders."

"…I see no possible advantage to you keeping me locked up here. What do you want!"

"As I said, all will be revealed… We are just having a little trouble securing your 'cooperation'."

"What!"

"Yes, it seems that your brother has done a runner. But don't worry, my pet, we'll get him soon."

"No! You said that-"

"And you believed me." He shook his head. "I never thought of you as a fool, Kaiba, but perhaps I need to re-assess that stance…"

"This was not in the deal! You promised to leave him alone!"

He considered the head of Kaiba Corp, head on one side. "You know, desperation is quite befitting to you." He drawled. "But you see, circumstances change. And with little Mokie disappearing…" He paused to give the conclusion more effect. "He is proving quite bothersome." Laughing, the man left. Seto sat back down, smiling grimly. At least Mokuba had run. And, his captor was perfectly right: Circumstances could change, at the blink of an eye.

A fool Kaiba may be, but then, he was playing a fool's game.

And he was not intending to lose.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_Seto frowned to himself. They would be there soon. At least Mokuba didn't have to witness it… Even though he was going to have to go along with these psychopaths, it didn't mean he'd have to like it. And it didn't mean he'd have to go along completely unprepared._

_He went to a drawer in his desk and pulled out a box of contact lenses- made by KC, of course- and, selecting two, put them in his eyes. Glasses just wouldn't suit him. He glanced at his watch. He had little time left, even provided they turned up traditionally late to let him sweat. There was just one thing left to do…_

_Seto went to a shelf, and slipped a CD-R from it's sleeve, watching as the disk gleamed in the light. He slipped it into his laptop and twiddled his thumbs as the pre-prepared programs uploaded themselves._

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

In the same place, but a world away, Ryou had finally caught up with Mokuba and after a short conversation, the two had made their way up to and into the mansion.

And found nothing.

They sat down on a sofa so squishy that it practically swallowed you, and felt a little disheartened.

"I can't believe that we didn't find anything…" Mokuba sighed. "I know Seto, and I'm sure that he'd have left something…"

The Kaiba mansion was a large place, and they had conducted a through search, so by now it was the early hours of the morning. Ryou ran a hand over his eyes wearily.

"I'm sorry, Mokuba…" He said slowly. "We can't do anything. This is a matter for the Police now."

"What did they ever do for anyone…?" Mokuba replied grumpily.

"We'll see." Ryou replied. "You're welcome to stay with us for a while, and since we're here you may as well go and get some stuff…"

Mokuba nodded and headed up to his room. He must stink, after all that time he'd spent in his school uniform. He pulled on his favourite clothes- a slightly worn pair of jeans and a black tee-shirt with the yellow triple-triangle toxic waste symbol, with the words 'Hazardous Waster' written around it- but somehow they didn't make him feel any better. He felt completely useless, remembering how his brother had helped him in a similar situation. He knew that he had let Seto down… He rubbed his eyes, both from tiredness and to stop the rouge tear and began to distractedly pile things into his rucksack.

He knew something really bad must have happened, otherwise why wouldn't Seto had broken out yet? Was he caught by surprise, or had he been prepared? It was hard to imagine his brother being surprised by anything… was this another unfathomable plan? After all, you never knew just what Seto was getting up to on that laptop.

Mokuba slapped his forehead. Then he shoved the shirt into his rucksack and tried again. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before! He ran back down the stairs.

"Ryou!" he shouted, on the way past the room the guy was currently inhabiting "I have an idea! C'mon!" He continued down the hall, Ryou appearing behind him a moment later.

"What's the matter?" Ryou asked blearily, shaking his head. He'd managed to doze off in the few moments Mokuba had spent upstairs.

"Seto's office!" Mokuba said. "We didn't check it! His laptop!"

"But Kaiba makes the best security measures in the world…" Ryou began in confusion. "And if he's the same as when I knew him, he wouldn't hesitate to use it on something so important…"

Mokuba pushed open the office doors. "Seto is the only one who can make such secure settings…" He said "And only I can break them."

They entered the dark room, and when Ryou located and flicked the switch, it was bathed in an unobtrusive light. And they could see the well-organised office was as well organised as ever, except for a bedraggled potted plant that had tipped over and was spreading soil all over the carpet, and among that soil lay Seto's laptop, the keyboard almost completely ripped away, the screen cracked and broken, plasma and soil oozing from it like blood.

"No way…" Mokuba said in disbelief, picking up the remnants.

"Could it be fixed…?" Ryou asked uncertainly. It looked pretty totalled to him.

"Yes." Mokuba sighed. "But it'd be easier just to get a new one, including getting everything on it back." He took the broken shards of laptop, the keyboard dropping letters even as he moved it, and laid them on Seto's desk.

"Do you want to try and clean up in here?" Ryou asked hesitantly.

"No. We have more important things to do." Mokuba said in determination. "We need to get at Seto's files."

"But the laptop…" Ryou began, his sleep-deprived brain sluggish.

"Just because the laptop's gone doesn't mean the files are. This is Seto, after all." Mokuba said, smiling grimly. "Give me time and a decent internet connection, and we may just have something…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_These two people were even more stupid and thug like then he expected. They came in, obviously wanting a fight but not expecting one. He could tell by the way they slammed through doors, and by the way they swaggered. They were completely self-assured. They thought they were in control._

_"No need for a fight!" Seto cried, holding up his hands as they entered "I don't want any trouble!"_

_"Well, Mr Kaiba, I'm afraid you're up to your scrawny little neck in it." One tittered idiotically "But don't worry. You behave yourself, and we'll be gentle…"_

_Seto sighed despondently. "I guess I don't have any choice." He said, downcast._

_"That's right." Thug number two sneered. "This is why you shouldn't get yourself involved with the big guns. It's a cruel world for a weakling like you." He gestured at the door "Now, get out of here."_

_Seto hid a smirk and picked up his laptop. He wasn't as helpless as he pretended._

_"What's that?" Thug one asked suspiciously._

_"My laptop!" Seto replied, doing his best to sound like a pompous fool "Surely you can't expect me to go without it!"_

_"Can't you do better then that?" Thug one asked, snatching the laptop. "What a weak attempt." He threw the laptop down and he and his friend proceeded to stamp all over it, till even the robust little gadget gave one last whine and died, it's plasma screen cracked and broken, it's keyboard ripped away._

_"My laptop!" Seto yelled. "How could you!" He glared at them._

_"Ooh…" The Thug One mocked. "You're getting angry. I'm so scared…"_

_Under normal circumstances, Seto thought, you would be._

_"Now move it!" As Seto did so, silently and with as much dignity as he could muster, the guy continued. "You smarts don't realise." He said "At the end of the day, brains will get you nowhere. It's strength!" He flexed his muscles, managing to knock over a plant pot. Seto snorted. Slightly abated, the Thug continued none the less as they headed down stairs. "You're smart and all, but one day, you're gonna get your teeth kicked in and that'll be the end of you!" He laughed raucously as his partner, also laughing, roughly shoved the 'defenceless' Seto into the back of a waiting car. "Look at you!" The Thug snarled, sounding almost disgusted "All that clever talk and threats, it ent got you nowhere! You're defenceless and pathetic! I was rather disappointed…" This guy really likes the sound of his own voice. Seto thought wryly. "After everything I've heard, I expected more fight from Seto Kaiba."_

_Seto remained silent. After all, the fight had not yet even begun. So he would stay silent, biding his time._

_Then, when everything reached a climax, he would strike. _

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was getting quite late in the day by the time he got access to Seto's files. As soon as he was in, Mokuba's hand shot out, stopping the clock next to him. It had taken him three hours and 26 minutes. A new record. The desperation must have helped- Last time it took him almost five hours, most of the day.

You see, it was almost a competition between the two brothers. Mokuba would try to get past Seto's newest virtual defences, so Seto would improve them, so Mokuba would break them… Sometimes it took his days, managing it step by step, but if he did it straight through, as he had done now, it still took him hours on end.

And if he managed to do it in under an hour before the end of the year, Seto would owe him a lot of money.

But that didn't matter right now.

Mokuba looked over his shoulder, to where Ryou had fallen asleep again. He didn't have much of his year out left, and Mokuba found himself wondering just how many times Jenna and Ryou had been jet-lagged. No wonder he was so tired all the time.

He mentally debated weather or not to wake him, before deciding not to. Usually, not even _he _was aloud to look at Seto's files, (This was the point where his brother would intervene on the little hacking exercise.) so Mokuba was sure his brother wouldn't want Ryou to see them. This was something Mokuba would have to do on his own.

_Sorry Seto, _he thought as he began to scan down the file titles for something that looked relevant _But let's see just what you're getting up to…_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Jenna glanced up at the clock on the wall. They'd been gone for hours, and she was beginning to get worried. It was impossible to concentrate on anything. So now it was time to do something.

Grimly, she pulled on her coat and slipped Ryou's keys into her pocket, trying to figure out what she was going to do. She'd have to head up to the Kaiba mansion, wherever it was- but c'mon, seriously, how many mansions could there be in a little town like this?- and if they weren't there…

Well, she'd figure that one out later.

She reached up to open the door when the buzzer went. She flinched a little, startled, but opened the door anyway.

She just had time to register the two men before something was pressed to her face, heavy and damp. Some sort of a cloth. She gasped in surprise, and even as she inhaled she recognised the smell of the chemical from the back streets of her home town. But it was too late. She toppled forward with a strange kind of grace.

"It's not him!" One guy said "And it ent the kid either!"

The other man swore. "You don't say. Well? What are you going to do about it?"

"What can we do?" He responded. "The boss wanted that other guy!"

"I know that, idiot!" The one that was obviously in charge replied, hitting him round the head. "But he's not here, and we can't ask him where the runt is if he ain't here!"

"I guess not…"

"So, here's what we do…" He began. "We take the girlie and give him a message he won't forget…" He laughed. The other one blinked.

"I'm not kidnapping no girl!" He insisted. "Especially not a pretty one!"

"Well, would you rather go back to the boss empty handed?" The other demanded. "Besides, if I'm right, the fact that she is pretty will help us immensely… After all, what's her _boyfriend _gonna do to get her back?"

"Oh, I get ya now…" The other giggled. "Fine. Let's give him a message he won't forget!"

The two men laughed and stepped inside the flat, dragging the limp girl in after them. So what if they'd got the wrong person? Maybe she could be equally useful, in questioning and as a little… bait.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Found anything?" Ryou asked suddenly from behind him, nearly giving Mokuba a heart attack. He seemed to have a habit of doing that, approaching quietly and sneaking up on people.

"It's defiantly something…" Mokuba replied, trying to work out the lines of program code on the screen. "But I don't know what… It could be nothing."

"Or it could be something." Ryou pointed out.

"There's got to be some way to run the program and find out what it does…" Mokuba muttered. "But I can't figure it out…"

He had found the strange code inside a countless folders- he had had to open folder after folder after folder to find the strange, untitled document with nothing but a line of code. He felt sure it was some sort of computer code, but what sort he did not know or recognise. And he had no idea how to start to figure it out.

"You'll get it." Ryou said encouragingly "You _are _a Kaiba after all."

Mokuba nodded. He _was _a Kaiba, and the only person in the world to date who had broken Seto's computer security measures. If anyone could do it, it would be him.

There was something familiar about the code… he just had to remember where he'd seen it before…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The elder Kaiba's eyes gave away nothing as he glanced at the girl that had been thrown in the cell with him. He had no idea who she was, nor did he particularly care. But then…

After a very boring weekend of only talking to his captor once, being knocked out once, and spending the rest of his time in a cell, Seto had been about to escape. However, as he still had no way to know what these people wanted from him, and therefore didn't as of yet know how to crush them, perhaps it would be worth waiting. And it seemed they were determined to bring his brother, and whoever this girl was, into the whole affair.

So maybe it was worth hanging around for a little longer.

It looked like things were about to get interesting.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Whooo! Just got it done in time! I know, I know it was short… But I've had exams all week. I got up at 6:40 am on a SATURDAY to write get this done! So, apologises, but give me a break!

Join me next Saturday for chapter five!


	5. Room 101

A/N: Wow, just got this done. I was going to put one last scene on the end, but… I don't have time. Oh well. Just be glad you got a chapter at all! Please…?

Review Responses:

leviathanofpower: Ahhhhhh! Don't die! I don't want you to die! Ahem. That is, I hope you continue to enjoy the fic!

Willowwind: If they get Mokuba, _I _will smack them... Heh. Now it sounds like I don't know what's going to happen. But I do. If you ask really nice, maybe I'l tell you hee hee hee... Have you read a book called The Saint of Dragons? Because that's worse. It's all about the dragon hunters going to try and get rid of all the dragons, and there's only one good dragon (The Dubai Dragon) and he turns traitor. Then he explodes.Meh.

Dragonlady222: Thanks for your smypathy. I am on a constant look out for the first of the Dragonriders, I'm almost _certain _there's a copy somewherein the house. Hmmm... _(Makes plans to sneak into brother's room using awsome ninga skills in order to see if he has the book) _Well, I'm actually reading 1984 right now after 3 years of looking for it, and... well, the title of this chaptersaysit all, really.

Disclaimer: Oneofthosereallyannoyingdisclaimersthatnosylawersandmiserablecopyrighterssaywehavetowrite:Idon'townanythinginthisfic,andyouarethethickoneifyouthinkIdo!

Now then…

Five: Room 101

"I know where I've seen it! This code!" Mokuba yelled suddenly, scaring Ryou to death.

"Where?" Ryou asked curiously, looking over his shoulder again to see the code for himself.

"Well, not exactly, but it's very close!" Mokuba babbled on. "Tell me, did you see any rouge duel disks around when we were searching the house?"

Ryou shook his head, baffled. Mokuba deflated.

"Oh, c'mon…" He moaned. "To have come all this way and…"

"I didn't say I didn't know where to get one." Ryou said happily. "I don't know why you want a disk all of a sudden, but I think it's about time I got my old friend out, no?"

And so, without further ado, they headed back towards Ryou's flat, Mokuba explaining along the way.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Urrgh…" Jenna woke slowly and groggily. Then she sat up as she realised she wasn't at home, or a hotel or hostel or even Ryou's flat. "What is this…" She wondered, standing up and examining the place that looked worrying like a cell; a concrete room with bars for a door. Through the aforementioned bars, she could see an identical cell oppisite. There were no windows, and little artificial light, just a single, weak bulb hanging between the two cages. However, even if the room and cells had had floor to ceiling windows of the finest, clearest, glass and the sun was as bright as the hottest day over the Sahara, Jenna doubted it would have improved at all. This room was irrepressibly dingy. Now, how to get out? Especially as she didn't even know where she was…

She heard a slight movement, and wiped round to see a man sitting in the corner of the cell, his back against the wall and his legs stretched out along the length of the bars. He glanced up at Jenna, but made no move to speak, remaining creepily silent.

"Who are you!" Jenna screamed, jumping. Then, realising she had instinctively yelled in her native tongue, she began to repeat the question in Japanese.

"Don't bother." Seto said lazily, straightening up. "I _do _understand English, even though you have a very strange accent."

"That's because I have relatives in most of Europe!" Jenna protested. "So I'm a mixt…" Then she remembered that it really wasn't any of his business. "Look, why didn't you say anything before?"

"You didn't make any effort at conversation either." Seto pointed out. His legs and back were numb. He stood up, noting that he was only perhaps a head taller then the girl before him. Oh well. Maybe people were generally just taller in… wherever she was from.

"That's because I didn't know you were there!" Jenna replied, already frustrated with this guy… As he stood up, she could see his face better in the dull light and recognised him instantly. "Hey, you're that robot guy!"

Seto just sighed. He was used to statements like that. "And you are…?"

"No-one." Jenna said slowly. "Just a student from England, travelling…"

"I meant your name, moron."

"Jenna. It's Jenna. So, what's going down here?"

"Use your imagination." Seto answered, rolling his eyes.

"But… we've been kidnapped?" Jenna asked, wanting to sit down suddenly, but thinking better of it when she remembered the floor was made of concrete. "Why?"

"You tell me." Seto shrugged. "What do you have to offer them?"

"Nothing!" Jenna moaned. "It's not like I have any money… hey, why would anyone kidnap you!"

"Oh, let me think." Seto spat sarcastically "What could the owner of a multi-billon pound company possibly have to offer anyone?"

Jenna ignored him. "Wait! I bet they want you to build them an army of robots so they can just beat the crap out of all the other countries!"

Seto wondered vaguely if she could possibly be serious. "Or maybe," He said heavily. "They just want money."

Jenna exhaled noisily. "Whatever. Kill the dream, why don't ya? Well, I hope that Ryou and Mokuba don't do anything too-"

Seto was on her in an instant. "You know where Mokuba is!" He demanded.

"Well, duh." Jenna said, unable to stop herself backing away a little "He's-"

Seto pounced and covered her mouth, muffling the words.

"Ssh!" He hissed, intensely. He swung the rather scared Jenna round so she could see the CCTV camera in the corner. "Do you want them to know!"

Jenna shook her head as best she could, and Seto released her. She quickly backed off, away to the other side of the cell.

"I'm only here because they threatened to harm my brother." Seto admitted, slowly and coldly. "So I can't let you jeopardise that." It wasn't an apology, but it was an explanation. And, in time, maybe that would be good enough.

"Well, he's alright." Jenna sighed, after a long pause. "At least, he was last time I saw him. But I think-"

Whatever Jenna thought was cut off as the door to the room containing the two cells swung open, squealing like a pig and car breaks rolled into one. Two more nameless henchmen entered the room. A moment later, they began to pull a protesting, pulling, fighting, Jenna out. Seto almost helped. But, from the sounds of things, he'd need to appear helpless for a little longer. So he watched as Jenna was eventually over powered and pulled away- 'For questioning.'

"Don't tell them anything…" Seto begged quietly as she continued to struggle and her head came within his vicinity. She nodded, and, as she was pushed forcibly against the bars and her hands tied, she looked very scared. But she smiled grimly.

"Room 101…" She half-laughed, half sobbed. Seto wasn't quitesure what she meant by that. Did this senario remind her of it? Or was there something else he wasn't quite grasping? Hmm. Probablythe former. Strange she should mention it at a time like this. Even stranger heshould be_bothered _about it at a time like this. Jenna struggled one last time,then she gave up, walking,defeated but still determined not to succumb to… whatever they were going to do, and whoever 'they' were… She walked, head held high, and went with the guards out of the room with as much dignity as possible.

The door slammed, and Seto sat back down, wondering absently if he'd see her again. Still, at least he remembered why Mokuba had mentioned her name before- Ryou's travelling companion.

Things were getting dangerous. He needed to get out soon. But, then… No, not yet.

Just a little while longer. He needed to see how this turned out.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They continued to walk swiftly up the stairs and along the hallway to where Ryou's flat was.

"So it's like the programming in the Duel Disks?" Ryou checked, still finding it hard to get his head round what Mokuba was trying to get across to him.

"No." Mokuba shook his head, slowly as they nearly reached Ryou's door. "It's more like the code that was written for all the cards. You run it _through _the program on the Duel Disks to project the hologram, and every card is different. So I think that maybe…it's…" He trailed off as he saw why Ryou's flat had been left open and what the man himself was staring at. "Oh, man…"

Ryou had gone very pale. He walked slowly further into the flat, broken possessions being kicked underfoot. The damage was wide spread and throughout the flat. There was seemingly nothing left righted or in one piece. Ryou moved listlessly through the flat, from room to room, Mokuba trailing after him. They didn't speak.

They entered the main room again, but Ryou's eyes merely flicked over it before he turned and walked across the hall again.

Mokuba, however, moved into the main room. He wanted to help, but he didn't even know where to start. How did you clean up something like this? Something scratched under his trainers. He lifted his foot, finding Ryou's guitar, or part of it, underneath. Whoever had robbed him had even snapped the neck off.

"Oh man…" Mokuba groaned again, wanting to sit down, but the sofa cushions were ripped and torn, scattered across the room. "This is all my fault…" They had silently agreed that this wasn't a normal robbery. They had obviously suspected him of staying with Ryou. And he thought he had been so clever, but all that had happened was that he had got Ryou's home trashed! And if they had been in…

"They took Jenna." Ryou said flatly, scaring Mokuba once again. But there wasn't time for that now.

"What?" Mokuba asked "Are you sure? I mean, why would they? Maybe she's at the Police station…"

Ryou shook his head. "It's all here." He said, screwing up a note in his hand. "Here." He tossed something at Mokuba. Mokuba caught it, surprised to see it was a duel disk. And not one of the ones the Americans had mass-produced either. A original Kaiba Corp. Model.

"There's two of them." Ryou said shortly, holding up a second disk. "When I found out I qualified for a free disk, I already…" He trailed off, not wanting to try and explain how Bakura had stolen a disk for him first. He began to walk out the flat.

"Ryou?" Mokuba called "Where are you…?"

"Going?" Ryou completed. "Back to your place, naturally."

"But…" Mokuba began, looking back at the ruined flat.

"We got what we came for." Ryou said stiffly. "Now we have to go and get them."

Mokuba nodded, following the nineteen year old's strides. But it didn't change the fact that e felt incredibly guilty. What had essentially began concerning him alone had spread, and now people were getting hurt. Ryou hadn't done anything wrong, but now he had been dragged in, and his belongings ruined. And from him Jenna had become involved, kidnapped just on the off chance that she knew something. Just because she may know where he was. And, he suspected, they knew that if she didn't know, Ryou would. And they knew Ryou would go after her.

They were walking right into the lion's den. They were going to go right into the place where the people trying to get them were trying to take them. And they were going to hope that they stayed alive.

He just wished he knew why. What did these people want…!

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Hours later, Yugi waited, getting as little annoyed.

"Sorry, the number you are trying to call does not exist." The phone insisted. "Please redial and try again."

Yugi frowned, putting the phone down to stop the repeated message mid-word. He had already dialled three times… surely he couldn't have miss-dialled all three times! He tried one last time, putting in each number slowly and individually. As he waited, he knew there was no mistake.

"Sorry, the number you are trying to call does not exist. Please redial and try again. Sorry, the number you called…"

As the message played over and over again, Yugi growled in frustration.

"Yes it does!" He screamed. "I used this number yesterday! Of course it exists!"

"…Try again. Sorry, the…"

"Shut up, you idiotic thing!" Yugi yelled. "It exists, alright! So connect me!"

"…does not exist. Please redial…"

Yugi slammed the phone down, the growl of frustration now promoting itself to a scream.

"Um… is this a bad time?" Someone asked. He hadn't heard them come through the shop door over yelling at the phone. He turned to see none other then the ex-muse, Azreal. Or, to call her by her human name, as he should, Anna.

"Anna!" He said. "How was it?" He was, of course, referring to her visit to her family.

"Okay." She shrugged. "I suppose the general population worshipping me is better then when they despised me."

"Well, you _did _save the city…" Yugi smiled. "With Kaiba, of course." (A/N: Look out for this particular story after IMM is done!)

"Heh." Anna smirked. "I still can't believe you thought Seto and I were dead…" she laughed.

"You _were_." Yugi pouted. "Half of you, anyway. And Kaiba only just made it out as well, so there!"

"Speaking of Seto…" Anna said slowly. "That's why I came round. I went round to see them about half an hour ago, just after I got back, and the place was empty! I just wondered if Mokuba had mentioned anything while he was here…"

Yugi shook his head. "No, I haven't seen him since Friday. He doesn't work on Sundays either, so he won't be here today. Sorry."

"Strange…" Anna muttered.

"I'll tell you what's stranger." Yugi sighed. "Whenever I try and phone Ryou, it tells me that the number doesn't exist… Oh, did I mention he was back?"  
"No." Anna replied, surprised. "Is he?"  
"Yeah." Yugi nodded, giving up as the phone sent out the same recorded message. "Along with a friend of his. But, now that I think about it, I haven't seen them since Friday night either. I was sure he'd want to do something yesterday, but…" He shrugged.

"Hmm…" Anna smiled. "Call me Azreal, cause I think I smell an adventure!"

"I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation…" Yugi protested weakly, but Azreal was already dragging him out the shop.

"I've never been wrong so far!" She said cheerfully. "And I'm sure the Kaiba brother's disappearance and Ryou's disappearing Phone are connected! So let's go over to Ryou's and check it out!"

"Well, I am a little worried about him…" Yugi admitted doubtfully "But I don't see how-"

"Oh, cheer up!" Azreal grinned as she saw his downcast face. "How long has it been since you had a good adventure, eh? And don't lie, the muses know everything! Including you longing for more adventures, deep down inside…" She paused, seeing Yugi was still unconvinced. "C'mon! It'll be fun!"

And, when they got there…

"Well…" Azreal said grimly "At least you know why the phone didn't work." She gave a half shrug, lifting up the shattered phone by it's cut chord.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: Hurrk! What will they do to Jenna! And what will Mokuba and Ryou achieve by walking right into 'the lions den'! And now Yugi and Azreal have come into it to! This is getting out of hand… Oh well. R&R please! For more about Azreal, read Amusing for Inspiration. And as for the thing Yugi was referring to… Well, what can I say? Coming soon! So, until Saturday, watch this space!

(For those of you that don't know, Room 101 is of course from Orwell's 1984, and in a nutshell it was a room where you were faced with your worst fear whilst being questioned)

Oh, look down there. A review button. Wonder what that's for...


	6. Double Agent

A/N: Here we go! Chapter six! And I have nothing relevant to say… so I'll say 'DOWN WITH SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!' 'I want a mask that let's you talk like Vader!' 'Ryou, how could you!' and 'Woohoo! The YGO Manga is being released in English! Yay!'

Disclaimer: If I did own it, I wouldn't be saying I didn't own it. Oh, and a warning, this word contains _one _naughty word. But, given the situation, you'd expect there to be a lot more.

Review Responses:

Dragonlady222: Thanks for your encouragement! Y'know, you'd think it'd be easy to find books, what with spending lunchtime every day in the school libary (sp?).

Jarmets: Thank you! Tell me, do you have an account onthis site?

SOS: When my brain doesn't work, I write fanfiction. ;-) Anyhoo, here's chapter 6,and you'll find out what'da code'is...so hopefully you'll like!

If anyone else reviewed, my apologies.Hotmail is being screwyand not letting me onto my inbox. Hmmph.

And so, here's chapter 6, worringly entitled 'Double Agent'...

Six: Double Agent

Jenna swore violently at him in English.

"Tell me!"

Cursing, in Spanish this time.

"You're not making it any easier on yourself!"

French.

"I know you're lying…"

Latin. Do they even swear in Latin? Apparently so.

"Do you want me to hurt you?"

"Do I have an honest choice?" Jenna spat the words. She had run out of actual spit some time ago, which explained the curses.

"Heh. You think you're smart but-" Her tormenter was cut off as the door to the small room that was almost as dingy as the room with the cells opened, creaking slightly. The person surveyed the room as though it was somehow offensive. Jenna was strapped in a very cliché metal chair by her wrists and ankles. A sort of half-heated harsh light shone straight onto her face, and her neck was strapped in a very awkward position. She strained a little, trying to see who the new entrance was, but she could see nothing in her current position and through the glaring light. She had a vague notion that it was a woman or a very weedy man. Something was reflecting the light shed on them- the person, or, indeed, entity, was almost surrounded by a golden shine.

"Any luck?" The person drawled, revealing itself to be a very weedy man after all.

"Not yet, sir, she won't say anything but-"

"Ha!" Jenna interrupted, sticking out her tongue. "Listen, I don't care who you are but I'm not gonna say anything so you may as well let me go!"

"So you do know something!" Her questioner shouted triumphantly.

Jenna glared.

"Get it out of her." The guy said dangerously. "By any means possible."

"Fine." Her tormenter cracked his knuckles. "No more Mister nice guy. Last chance… you want to say anything?"

Jenna managed to move her hand just enough to flip him a rather insulting gesture.

"All the more fun for me." He grinned. "I'll enjoy breaking you…" He hit her hard on the side of her face, which instantly went numb. Then he paused.

"Do you enjoy hitting girls?" Jenna gasped, trying not to let pain into her voice.

"Again." The boss demanded. Jenna got another punch, this time in her eye. She bit down on her lip to stop herself crying out. She'd been beaten up before, but this guy seemed to hit a lot harder. "Again."

He hit her, in the same place as the first time. This time she felt a tooth come lose, and, chocking, spat it out onto the floor.

"Again…Again…Again, Again, Again!" He demanded.

Blood tricked down her face, from both her chewed lip and her now suspected-to-be-broken nose.

"Stop." The demand caused Jenna to sag in relief. "Let her talk."

Jenna realised that the lull was to let her tell them everything. She just glared.

"Very well." He continued smoothly. "I don't have time for all this. Bring out the… ahem… drastic measures."

Jenna swallowed as something that looked suspiciously like a shower head was wheeled towards her.

"I'm very sorry about this." The leader said, not sounding at all sincere. "We don't usually move on this fast but you are proving quite bothersome."

"I'm so sorry." Jenna replied, equally sarcastic. Although the girl could not see it, he gave a sardonic grin.

"Heh. Now, turn it on."

Jenna was rather surprised when the thing that looked suspiciously like an industrial-sized shower head _was _an industrial-sized shower head. She spluttered and coughed as ice cold water drenched her up turned face, cleansing her bloodied face slightly. It ran over the rest of her body, soaking her, before trickling away and flowing into a puddle on the floor.

"I think you'll rather enjoy this-" the man who was so obviously in charge said, but was then interrupted as a phone rang in one of the outside corridors. "Oh, you'll find out." He said, beginning to leave and gesturing at his lackey to continue. "Excuse me."

Jenna suppressed a hysteric laugh. It seemed so strange that someone was phoning up to sell insurance or whatever while all this was going on! She strained to see what her torturer was doing, but it was outside her vision.

A moment later, she found out as he loomed once again where she could see him. And he was holding some akin to a cattle prod, already crackling with electricity.

_I'm soaking wet… _Jenna realised numbly. _I'm going to die. I'm not going to live to see tonight!_

She instinctively moved as far away as she could from the instrument that was oh-so-slowly moving towards her.

_I've seen my last sunset…_

He was sure taking his time.

_And I never saw the northern lights!_

"Ready?" He taunted.

_Plus I'll never sue those bastards for taking my song!_

"One shock won't kill ya…" He said. "But two… or three…"

_This isn't fair! This is nothing to do with me!_

"Last chance to say something." He frowned. Usually people of this age were begging for mercy by now.

_Well, I'm giving him no satisfaction._

He gave up and made a great show of turning up the power setting. Jenna wasn't even sure if that was possible… maybe it was some psychological thing. He moved towards her with a kind of twisted determination. His pride would be forever tainted if he couldn't even get answers out of a nineteen year old girl.

_Oh Lord, this is it! I just hope Ryou and Mokuba get out okay! And Kaiba better appreciate this…_

It was so close now, she could feel it's heat, hear it's buzzing.

_I never gave Ryou his keys back… _Jenna almost laughed as she thought it. It was hardly important now! This was it. The time was now. This would be the moment she died, and only one person in the whole world would know… that was almost harder to bear then her death itself. The fact that no-one would know, that she'd be completely, and utterly, alone, only one person would know for sure what had happened to her, and he'd be the one bringing it about, and she knew what Ryou was like, he wouldn't give up on her for days before inevitably accepting she was dead…

"Don't bother." The lazy drawl came again suddenly, entering the room. "Leave her. We don't need her. Now, come out here."

The lackey frowned, but dropped the prod anyway. "This isn't over." He muttered, causing Jenna to shudder. Then he left, leaving her to sit there and drip.

Jenna sagged in relief, sobbing. She was alive. She didn't know why she wasn't needed anymore- though she could've had a pretty good guess- but for the moment, she was content just being allowed to live for a few more breaths.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Ryou had given up conversation some time ago, not that he'd had much to say in the first place. Mokuba was incredibly intent on whatever he was doing, his concentration was amazing.

"Here we go…" He muttered suddenly, liking his lips. The Duel Disk was now covered in wires, and the front of the computer had been stripped away to allow them access. Ryou didn't even pretend to understand it. Mokuba shifted some of the wires, to make absolutely sure the in-built projectors weren't blocked or damaged. Then he took one final wire. "This is it…" He hesitated, looking up at Ryou. "This is what we've spent so long doing… It might not be anything. What if it's just been a big waste of time?"

"We won't find out till you plug it in." Ryou replied grimly, nodding at the unspoken question.

Mokuba plugged in the final wire. What if it wasn't anything? What if it didn't _work_?

But he needn't have worried. Almost as soon as the wire made a connection did the old circuits whirr into action and with a small, almost excited whine, the disk began to project something. They couldn't tell what it was at first, but then…

"It's a log!" Ryou said in some surprise. "Like a company's log I mean. It's a list of everything that's been brought in."

"But it's all been brought by different accounts…" Mokuba said, leaning forward to get a better look at the list of pin numbers scrolling past. Even as he did so, however, did the list end abruptly and disappear. "Oh…" He sighed in disappointment, but then the Disk clicked again and a new page came up, apparently an article about some sort of new type of amusement park. Most of it was too light to read, but some parts had evidently been highlighted.

**Film fanatic**...** Promising a 'brand new experience'**…**Not advanced enough**... **Can't cope**…**Laughed out of town**... **Nothing compared to what people are used to**…

"This is dated almost four years ago." Ryou frowned, pointing at the date at the top of the page just before it scrolled out of existence. But Mokuba couldn't care less.

"Of course!" He yelled. "I should have known!"

"Huh?"

"Seto would've _never _gone in there blind!" Mokuba continued excitedly as more documents ran through the Duel Disks. "So he found all this stuff out! He _must've _known all this was going to happen, and this is all related to it somehow!"

"But why did he convert them to holograms?" Ryou asked in confusion.

"So no-one would be able to find them except him!" Mokuba yelled. "No-one would think that bit of code was important, and even less would think to run it through a Duel Disk!"

"Except you." Ryou smiled.

"Well… I…"

They both turned as the disk suddenly released a huge aerial photograph of Domino City. "What the…?" Mokuba concluded.

The 'camera' zoomed in on a certain quarter of Domino, then a block, then a street, then a building. It circled round the building, showing it at all angles before zooming back out, just enough to see both it and what was instantly recognised as the Kaiba Mansion in one shot. A thick red line shot out of the Mansion, winding along the roads at awesome speed, showing them the route. Then, it was gone as the building got zoomed in on again.

Suddenly, the building was replaced by a blue print, which they realised must be of the same place. Then it was gone, the disk gave a final whirr and then went back to sleep.

Mokuba and Ryou looked at each other.

"Let's move." Mokuba shrugged, pulling the Disk free. After all, it wouldn't seem right to go on a suicide mission without one.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"It looks like he's been robbed…" Yugi said slowly. "But with all this mess, it's impossible to see if they actually _took _anything…"

Azreal didn't answer, continuing to fiddle with the two broken pieces of what used to be Ryou's guitar, as though simply lining them up would fix the instrument.

"You're looking pensive." Yugi commented, slightly concerned when his hyper, happy-go-lucky friend seemed so serious.

"Mmm." She replied, the guitar pieces clinking as they knocked against each other. Yugi waited- Azreal was obviously going somewhere with this. "The way I see things…" She continued slowly. "There's no way all this would happen on the same day. Ryou, Jenna, Mokuba _and _Seto have all disappeared. Ryou's flat has been trashed. And I'll bet that if we took a proper look round Seto's, it'd be damaged somewhere as well."

"What are you driving at?" Yugi asked suspiciously.

"Let's go and take a proper look round the mansion and find out." Azreal said, her smile flickering back momentarily, heading out the door, still carrying the guitar.

"Azreal!" Yugi yelled, running after her. "Shouldn't we phone the police or something?"

"Ahh, you've gone soft! What, did you just let that Pharaoh of yours do all the adventuring?"

"You _knew _about that!"  
"Of course! _Everyone _in Wherever knows about that!"

"…Fine! Okay! But what's up with the guitar?"

"We can get it repaired."

"I thought you were expecting this to end up as a rescue mission!"

"I am. But we can get this repaired first."

"Shouldn't we, y'know, hurry!"

"Hey, never doubt Other-Worldly timing!"

"But you're always late!"

"Hey!"

"It's true! Can't we stop and think this through!"

"Nope! That's no fun, now, is it?"

"Fine, but how are you even planning on getting into the Mansion?"

"Meh, I'll think of something!"

"But…"

"Trust me, Yugi…!"

The voices drifted further and further away from the flat, until they were out of earshot. And neither had seen the note Ryou had discarded earlier. There, in the screwed up piece of paper, was a very simple sentence.

**_It's Easy. If you want the girl, bring us the boy._**

It seemed that this particular story was going to cause a lot of people to do a lot of things that they'd regret.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Watching a vaguely flickering security monitor was not Gyle's idea of fun. But, unlike some of his slightly smarter comrades in the other security rooms dotted throughout the building, he had no idea how to tune it into the national television channels. So he was stuck watching the grounds. As boring and as quiet as ever. Except…

He shot forward in surprise. Yes, he was sure now. There was two figures lying on the side of the hill, where the guards outside couldn't see them. Gyle, fingers shaking in excitement, zoomed in.

It was the Kaiba boy! He laughed raucously. The boss would love him! He wouldn't have to bother with that obnoxious girl anymore!

He reached for the internal phone on the desk and lifted the receiver, but then his fingers hovered uncertainly. The Boss didn't like to be interrupted when he was questioning… Maybe he'd wait a second.

Not knowing that they were being watched, Mokuba surveyed the building. "There it is." He whispered. Ryou nodded.

"You think?" The building was set away from the streets and even the back alleys. It was also on a slight hill, which was useful for them as they could see the building by staying just underneath the summit, but the guards could not see them. There were two of them, standing outside the fence that surrounded the austere, grey building. The fence itself was pretty creepy, seeing as instead of barbed wires or chain link, it had red laser beams stretching from post to post, just like on the movies. "I wonder why I've never noticed it before…" Ryou continued. "It's kinda hard to miss…"

"That's because it's usually covered in a hologram!" Mokuba muttered excitedly. You see the projectors?" He pointed at where a hologram projector was pocking out of the grass, not dissimilar to the ones that were on the original duel disks, before they were declared a health and safety issue. It was really quite amazing, how many head injuries could be caused by flying projectors when people weren't careful… Then Mokuba thought of something. "But if it isn't covered in a hologram now, someone wanted us to see this place…"

"Yes." Ryou sighed, as if he already knew that. Mokuba looked at him in confusion. "They did."

"Ryou…?" Mokuba began to feel a little frightened.

"I'm sorry, Mokuba…" Ryou looked at the ground. "I can't think of any other way to get Jenna back!"

"What!" Mokuba yelled, edging away as fast as he could, but he was quickly overpowered by the older boy.

"I'm so sorry…" Ryou repeated, as, holding Mokuba round the neck, he edged up to the top of the hill, yelling to the guards. "Okay, I'm here! And I've got the kid!"

"Ryou… no…" Mokuba gasped, unable to believe it even with his limited air supply.

Gyle's fingers slammed down on the phone's keypad.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Meanwhile, back at the Kaiba house, Yugi and Azreal were hot on their trail, as Azreal prepared to hook up the last wire to Yugi's disk.

"Good job Mokuba let this all out for us…" She said grimly, tossing the note they'd found about Seto's kidnapping aside. "Good job I paid attention when Seto was modifying this disks!" She added.

"You really think this'll help?" Yugi asked doubtfully- and he was getting impatient.

Azreal just looked at him and plugged in the final wire.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The guards moved forward cautiously, their guns still raised.

"Drop them!" Ryou demanded, swinging Mokuba in front of them. "Or you'll shot the kid to!"

The guards glanced at each other as they heard the quaver in his voice. This guy obviously didn't have a clue what he was doing, running on pure desperation. They continued to move towards the white-haired guy.

"Drop them!" Ryou yelled again, taking a nervous step back. "I'm just here for Jenna!"

The guards looked at each other, shrugging, and threw the guns at his feet. This guy was just here to do a deal. As soon as they had the boy, they'd kill him. But he didn't have to know that.

"There. We've dropped them." One said. "Now give us the kid!"

"Thank you." Ryou smiled. "And sorry."

"What for?" The second asked suspiciously.

Ryou released Mokuba and they moved as one body, grabbing the guns and knocking the guards out with the butts. Hey, if he could do it with a spanner…

Ryou grabbed a key card for the gates from one of them, and they began legging it across the ground. Ryou swiped the card through the lock, and a section of the lasers petered out, allowing them entrance to the building. Mokuba began to head through, but Ryou pulled him back.

"Wait." He said, pulling Mokuba in front of the security camera with him. " Don't just run off…Bow for the audience now!" Mokuba laughing, did so, and then they continued to walk in. After all, they may as well as ham it up a bit, they had long ago come to the conclusion that they couldn't get into the building via stealth. Now they justhad to run like hell and hope they didn't get caught.

It's a pity that it wasn't really a film. Surely that performance would have won an Oscar.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"You see? They just walked right through the front door! How very helpful of them…" He turned from the viewing screens to face his small audience. "They have, of course, taken out our front door security, but we were, of course, expecting that." Still no-one spoke. He had absolute authority. "I have no doubts that all together you could take them out. Individually, however… I shall enjoy seeing how far they get. I see no reason why we can't play with them for a while." He gave a slight smile. "Let them get as far as the first camera room, then, when they come out…" His smile widened. "Why not reunite them with their friends? This is turning out to be far more complicated then I thought…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Heh heh heh. Did you really think Ryou would do something like that? The next chapter will be ealier then Saturday because I'm going away for the Bank holiday weekend, but I'm not sure what day(s) the update(s) will be on, so just keep an eye out, 'k?


	7. When Bordem Sets In

A/N: Whooooooo! Wednesday Update! And, just because I'm so nice to ya'll, there'll be another one on **Friday**, and then one on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Hooray for Half term holidays!

Review Responses:

Dreamer of Dragons: I LOVE your name! I always thought that Mokuba and Ryou didn't get enough attention in the series, so there wasn't really much charecter development going on, plus my sisters a big Mokuba fan... And, yeah, this fic started one boring lunchtime where we somehow got onto the subject of what Mokuba would be like at Fifteen... thus, this fic was born! I'm glad you like it- I'm flattered!

Willowwind: I have to walk to school today. Which is why I won't be replying to your E-mail once I've done this, it'll have to be after school now. And as for Fluff? Fluff! Well, wait and see...

Dragonlady222: I will! And I'm somehow going to upload the fic from a tent in the middle of a field... Wait and see... As for my libabry (Still can't spell it) it sucks. I've can honestly claim to have read pretty much all of the books in there. And my dad doesn't let me buy stuff online... But don't worry- Once I'm done with 1984 (I've been backlogging lots of chapters of this for the daily updates next week, so I haven't had much time for reading) I have my eyes set on the next conquest- War of the Worlds!

Disclaimer: Title says it all. Enjoy the chapter everyone, this is one of my favorites!

7: When Boredom Sets in

"Does this seem weird to you?" Ryou panted as they ran down yet another corridor, perhaps one they had been down before, as they all looked the same.

"In what way?" Mokuba asked.

"Well, we've got here and yet we haven't seen a single guard! They _must _know we're here!"

"Are you complaining!"

Ryou was saved from answering as, right on que, they heard footsteps approaching from around the corner.

"This is all your fault!" Mokuba hissed.

"Never mind that now!" Ryou replied. "In here!"

They dived through a doorway and found they had made a rather bad choice of hiding place.

"Still your fault!" Mokuba accused.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Where are you going? The map said to take a left!"

"I told you." Azreal replied, looking over her shoulder at Yugi. "We have to go and get the guitar repaired."  
"Are you kidding me?" Yugi sighed. "You can't be serious…"

Azreal stopped walking and whipped around, her good humour gone. "Look! I may have lost my Musing powers sometime ago, but I'm _telling_ you that we _have _to wait, that we _mustn't_ go and save them yet, so in the meantime we are _going _to get the guitar repaired! And," She continued. "It's a hell of a lot harder for me to wait then it is for you, so I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop bloody moaning and get on with it!"

Yugi nodded in agreement, slightly scared, but he couldn't help but think that this rescue attempt was doomed from the start…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Speaking of doomed rescue attempts, our heroes found themselves in a small room that was more like a cupboard and that was lit only by the two dozen or so monitors crammed in there. Apart from the screens, the room was empty bar a small chair and a telephone.

"It's some sort of security booth." Ryou said, stating the obvious. "But there's no-one here…" They both drew a conclusion from this at the same time. That guard who had been heading towards them…

"Oh bollards!" Mokuba exclaimed.

"Quick!" Ryou said to him. "Under the desk!"

They crouched and crawled under the desk that had the screens balanced precariously on top of it, finding themselves squashed, cramped, and trapped in a world of wires.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Now can we go and save them?" Yugi asked warily.

"No." Azreal replied. "Not quite yet. But we can head over to the building if you like."

Yugi nodded and they began walking in the right direction this time.

"I really hope you know what you're doing…" He said worriedly. "I'm trying to trust you, Azreal, but it's hard."

"I know." She sighed. "But, hey, what could possibly go wrong?"

"Do you want a list…?" Yugi moaned.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"A hundred green bottles standing on the wall…" Jenna sang stuffily. She was slightly better now, and having come to the conclusion that she would not escape unassisted, she was trying to annoy everyone as much as humanly possible. Although she had been left all alone in the room, she knew there was a camera in the corner. So why not? That song was friggin' irritating and it was even worse through a bloodied face and a broken nose. And it would kill time till someone came, maybe even speed them up. Plus it would keep her amused for a while. It was pretty boring in here… "A hundred green bottles standing on the wall!" She continued "But if one green bottle should accidentally fall, there'll be ninety-nine green bottles standing on the wall! Ninety-nine green bottles…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Seto's eyes continued to bore holes into the wall.

He was so booooored….

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Do you think it's safe to go out?" Mokuba asked quietly a few seconds after they had hid under the desk.

"Probably not." Ryou said. "That guard'll be hanging round in the corridor."

They both sighed deeply, and, after a while, were forced to resort to I Spy to keep themselves alive.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Can't we just go in?" Yugi asked despondently. "I just don't see the point of all this hanging around! What are we waiting for?"

"For when they need us." Azreal replied.

"And when will that be?" Yugi wondered, sighing. They were sitting on the hillside, out of sight of the guards, and had been for some time. Boredom was setting in.

"When will it be?" Azreal echoed. "Hopefully before this daisy chain reaching record length!" She held up a daisy chain that was already getting pretty long. Yugi gave her a strange look. "Hey!" She defended. "I was bored!"

Yugi regarded her for a second, then gave a resigned sigh. "So…" He said, pulling an innocent daisy from the ground. "How do you make those things anyway?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Jenna was still going strong. "Seventy green bottles…" She sang.

"Sixty green bottles…"

"Fifty green bottles…"

"Forty green bottles…"

"Thirty green bottles…"

"Twenty green bottles…"

"Ten green bottles…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Seto sat and wished something would happen, resisting the urge to kill himself.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with W."

"Is it wall?"

"Yes."

Both gave a sigh of discontent.

"Okay." Mokuba said. "I spy with my little eye something beginning with C…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Now you're getting it…" Azreal commented blandly as Yugi tried to convince himself that he couldn't _possibly _be the only straight guy to have made a daisy chain.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"One green bottle, standing on the wall." Jenna concluded wearily. "One green bottle standing on the wall! But if one green bottle should accidentally fall… They'll be no green bottles standing on the wall! Annnnd… now I'm bored." She sighed deeply.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Seto decided to go temporarily insane.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I think," Ryou said. "That it is most defiantly safe to come out now."

"Good." Mokuba grumbled as they crawled out. "Because we are most defiantly out of things to spot." He silenced anymore complaints on the tip of his tongue, realising as Ryou climbed stiffly out from under the desk that the older, taller boy had far more to complain about.

Especially when Ryou saw what was on the screens.

"No way…" Mokuba said slowly.

"I'll kill him." Ryou said dangerously. "I'll kill him!"

Mokuba wondered if now would be a good time to remind Ryou that they were there to rescue Seto, not kill him.

But then, glancing again at the monitors, he'd have to admit that Seto would deserve it…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"You!"

"Me?"

"Come with me!"

"Fine. But you'll have to untie me." Jenna shrugged.

"Less of your lip!"

"Hey, it's already split. How much 'less' do you want?"

She stood shakily, her hands still tied behind her, and nearly overbalanced as her would-be-electrocuter kicked her viciously in the shins.

"Move." He spat.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll find out…"

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather sing a song? I know a great one! It goes: A hundred green bottles standing on the wall, a hundred green bottles sta-"

"Shut up and move!"

Jenna grinned. Even in the worst imaginable situation, she could annoy the hell out of everyone.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Seto stood as two men came into the room and over-write the lock on the cell door by swiping a key card down the side.

"You're coming with us." One said gruffly. Maybe his name was Mr-States-the-bloody-Obvious.

Oh well. It beat sitting in the cell getting bored stiff.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Jenna was shoved in front of two double doors, her guard behind her, only to find herself standing next to a certain CEO, calm as ever.

He glanced at Jenna, his face not showing the twinge of guilt he felt as he took in her split lip, bruised face and broken nose. He turned back to facing the front.

"They didn't kill you then." He commented.

"It was close." Jenna sighed, before remembering something. "Wait! What the Hell was that tone of voice for! This is all your fault!"

"I wasn't the one that hit you in the face." Seto defended.

"So? If you hadn't have got kidnapped… Well, you better appreciate this! I've been knocked out, kidnapped, beaten up, soaked, and came _this _close to being killed! I really hope you don't-"

"No talking!" One guard roared.

"Can't these people talk quietly?" Jenna demanded, more to herself. Seto ignored her. She was alright.

"What are we waiting for?" Seto asked one of his guards, but he was just about to find out as they got forced through the doors and they swung shut behind them. They were surprised that they had not been accompanied by guards into the room at first, but it quickly paled to insignificance.

The room was large, and Seto suspected it may once have been some sort of canteen. There were many little windows dotted right up next to the ceiling- too high and thin to climb through. But escape was not the thing foremost in their minds at that moment.

At the other end of the hall was another set of double doors. And, unrestrained, Ryou and Mokuba were being forced through them- though not if they had anything to do it, apparently, because they were doing as best they could to get back out. Backs to the room, they hadn't as of yet noticed that they had company.

"Ryou!" Jenna called out, but both turned. The momentary distraction was enough. The guards forced them all the way into the room and slammed the doors shut. They were trapped. The four moved almost as one, meeting in the middle of the room.

As Ryou carefully set about un-tying Jenna's hands and Mokuba did the same for his brother, Jenna made a simple statement.

"Tell me you were kidnapped and this isn't some cocked up attempt at rescuing us…" She groaned.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Ryou opened the door to the corridor cautiously. He couldn't see anyone. With renewed determination he stepped out, gesturing for Mokuba to follow.

Everything went fine for about a minute before at least ten guards jumped out of a room on top of them.

"Fight them!" Ryou yelled, hitting a guard in the face. "Well," He said, almost thoughtfully. "There goes three years of pacifism…" He shrugged and hit another one.

Mokuba however, had needed no encouragement. Considering his lack of experience, he hit pretty hard for a fifteen year old.

The problem was that there was so many guards. While you were trying to get rid of one, there was another four or five stopping you. And by the time you dealt with the next, the first one was back!

They made it all the way down the corridor without sustaining major injury, but found themselves pressed up against a wall.

That wasn't a wall at all.

They fell backwards through the door-that-wasn't-a-wall, but recovered quickly. When the guards did not follow them into the large room, both came to the assumption that they wanted to keep them in this room.

Which meant Ryou and Mokuba wanted out.

"Ryou!" Someone yelled behind them. They turned, and the door slammed and locked behind them. But that didn't seem important right now.

Ryou headed straight for Jenna, and went to untie her hands. He saw instantly where the something had been cutting into her wrists, so he tried to be as gentle as possible.

""Tell me you were kidnapped and this isn't some cocked up attempt at rescuing us…" She groaned.

Ryou ignored her, and having finished his task, looked up, and got his first proper look at Jenna's face.

"Who did this…?" He asked, turning her face so he could see the bruised side better. It looked like she'd been punched… Not to mention she was wet, her lip was split and her nose was broken.

Jenna pulled away. "Don't." She grimaced. "It hurts. As for who it was-"

She was interrupted by Seto who appeared, having being freed by Mokuba. "They messed her up pretty bad, didn't they?" He gloated.

Mokuba closed his eyes. Especially after what they'd seen on the screens, he couldn't have _possibly _said anything worse…

As a result, he completely missed it as Ryou swung round and punched Seto so hard in the face that the taller boy fell over backwards.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Well, at least I'm not the only one with a broken nose now."

"Shut up."

"Um… yeah… I really am sorry about that, Kaiba…"

"Shut up."

"Ah, C'mon Seto, you can't blame him…"

"All of you, Shut Up."

Mokuba shrugged and slumped back down. They'd been taken to some cells- He and Ryou were in one, Jenna and Seto in another oppisite. It also appeared that Ryou had broken his brother's nose. And it seemed that the footage on the CCTV they'd seen (Jenna and Seto in a vicious fight and Seto constantly having the upper hand, but not letting up) was completely faked. No wonder the movements seemed so similar to sprites from _Street Fighter…_

Seto had resumed his now-accustomed position in the corner of the cell, now with a bleeding nose. Jenna was leaning in the corner oppisite him, partly on the wall and partly on the cell bars. Mokuba and Ryou were both just sitting next to one of the hard walls. No-one was saying much.

"Well, this is just great." Jenna broke the silence eventually. "What a happy little party we have going here. I mean, first there's Mr Sunshine and Rainbows over there," She pointed at Seto, who scowled. "And Mokuba's here because he was trying to rescue him, Ryou's here because he was trying to rescue me, and I'm here because…because… I have no idea why I'm here!"

"They were looking for me because I knew where Mokuba was." Ryou said dully. "They just got you instead."

"I want to know what they wanted with me in the first place…" Mokuba commented. "Every other time, they've used me to get to Seto, but this time they already had him…"

Seto shifted slightly and prepared to join in the conversation. "They did use you to get to me." He sighed. "I knew they were coming for me, but the only reason I went quietly was because they threatened to go after you if I didn't." Mokuba reddened slightly, but Seto continued oblivious. "Now you are supposedly here to ensure my 'co-operation'."

"Co-operation for what?" Ryou asked. Seto shrugged and went back to his stony silence.

"But then…" Jenna said slowly, going pale behind the rather unattractive drying blood. "What use have they for Ryou and I…?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Silence fell in the room, and hung around for a long time. Therefore, 3 out of the four occupants jumped out of their skin when Ryou's watch began to beep elatedly.

"Oh." He said, trying silencing it. "I wish I could figure out how to turn that alarm off completely… Oh well. The Pizza guy is officially late."

"Pass it here." Mokuba ordered. "I'll get it to shut up." Ryou did so.

"Speaking of food…" Jenna turned to the camera that continued to stare blankly at them. "How about some grub down here, eh? Do you want us to starve?"

"Just leave it, Jenn." Ryou sighed. "We'll just have to wait it out."

"Try telling that to my stomach." Mokuba replied wryly.

"Sorry." Jenna said, slumping down. "It's just I haven't had anything to eat ore drink since Friday night, and it must be Sunday morning by now…"

However, someone had obviously heard their complaints, because a moment later none other then Gyle appeared, carrying a tray.

"Here." He taunted, laughing. "Here's your bloody food."

He tossed half a lemon each at all of them and left.

Ryou looked at his blankly, as though wondering vaguely what to do with it. It would be far too sour to eat.

Seto glanced at his, wondering… then he put it to one side.

Mokuba was also looking at his lemon half, but in a different way to Ryou. His eyes were far away, calculating… He looked down at the watch still clasped in his hand, and back to the lemon again, figuring something out.

Jenna watched the three guys stare at their fruit as though it would manifest itself into an escape route and shrugged. "At least the juice'll give me a drink…" She said, lifting it to her lips.

"No!" Mokuba yelled suddenly. "I need it!"

Jenna looked at him in confusion. "What, do you have a lemon obsession or something?"

Mokuba sent a swift glance up at the camera and nodded. "That's right." He said, thanking his lucky stars that none of his classmates were there to hear him admitting to a lemon obsession.

But Jenna caught on fast.

"Alright." She said. "You better have this or you'll hurt me…" She tossed it clear across the room until it landed square in Mokuba's own cell. She just hoped he knew what he was doing, because if she didn't get a drink soon…

"Have mine to." Seto said "It's not like I'm going to use it." He tossed it across the room.

"Uh-huh." Ryou said finally, handing over his. Now with a grand total of two lemons, Mokuba nodded gratefully, and began to head over to the back of the cell.

Ryou felt the younger boy take his screwdriver from his pocket and couldn't help but wonder what the younger Kaiba was up to… The fact that he _was _a Kaiba was perhaps the most worrying.

Seto smirked to himself. He hadn't been betting on Mokuba turning up, but it certainly seemed like his little brother could hold his own. He had figured out the plan only moments after Seto himself had realised it. What a brother to be proud of.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Sooooo…" Yugi began. He was becoming steadily more doubtful and was barely restraining himself. "Any ideas when they'll need us to go and save them?"  
"Nope!" Azreal said cheerfully. "Just not now! Not yet."

"I hope you know what you're doing…" Yugi sighed.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The door swung open again, and in came a man. Jenna recognised him instantly, not only by the way Seto bristled on sight but because he was so weedy and covered in what could only honestly be described as bling.

He was dressed in a white suit that hung loosely over his skinny arms, not that you could see much of it under all the medallions, necklaces, rings, and chains he was wearing. Jenna wondered how he managed to carry it all around without it weighing him down. He stank of wealth and sweat; his eyes were small and beady in contrast to his long, black, greasy hair and miss-shapen nose.

Before Jenna could even begin to demand their release, he held up a hand to stop her.

"Not now, dear." He said. "I'm just here to have a word with Seto."

"'Dear'!" Jenna howled "Just get rid of the bars, buddy, and I'll-"

"Jenn. Stop." Ryou said quietly. Jenna didn't look happy about it, but she stopped.

"That's better." Bling-Man smiled, before turning to Seto. "Well, well, well… Isn't this a happy gathering? Now I was only expecting two of you… Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find some way to…dispose… of the other two.

No-one gave any obvious reaction, though when she blinked Jenna kept her eyes closed for slightly longer then normal. Mokuba just continued with whatever he was doing, hoping to remain unnoticed. _Hold on…_he thought silently _I'll get us outta here…_

"Okay, you have what you want." Seto said tiredly. "Now tell us what you want."

"I expect…" Bling-man said dramatically. "That you already know. I certainly wouldn't put it past you."

Seto glared.

"Oh!" He chuckled in delight. "Perhaps not. But don't worry, the time is almost at hand. There's just a few little things you have to do first. And I can't promise that all of you… Even your brother… will come out alive." He laughed, and then laughed harder as a tear crawled unbidden down Seto's face. "What's this? Tears?"

"Something in my eye." Seto spat sarcastically, turning away. Seeing that there was no further reaction to be gained from him, Bling-man walked away, cackling to himself.

Jenna and Ryou looked at each other. If Seto was going to pieces, things really were getting bad…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Oblivious to what Mokuba was doing inside, Yugi and Azreal continued to wait.

"Now." She said suddenly.

"Now?"

"Now!" She roared, scrambling up and belting up the hill, oddly enough still holding the guitar.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Ryou became aware of a quiet beeping in the cell. He turned to see Mokuba standing up, holding what he assumed used to be his watch. He felt his heart sink a little.

"Mokuba." he said, trying to be calm. "What is that?"

Mokuba didn't answer at first, then said slowly: "I don't want to worry everyone, but I'm going to strap this round the bar here and then I want you all to get as far back as possible…"

Ryou and Jenna glanced worriedly at each otherbefore hurrying to comply.

Seto smiled, feeling proud.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Wow, that was long. Which is good, because the next one is short. And all I have to say is: Poor Seto…


	8. Swatches and Lemons

A/N: Well, people, this chapter begins the Daily Update Challenge… I'm actually typing this on Wednesday night, so whether I succeed or not is till very sketchy. Let's just cross our fingers and hope for the best, ne? The chapters this week will be short, but hey, who doesn't like little and often...? Anyone?

Review Responses:

Dreamer of Dragons: Why would I be joking...? It took a lot of doing (aka. Writing Chapters 8-11 in about 3 or 4 days) But there WILL be daily updates. Even though I am goingcamping from Friday-Monday so there will be no review responses until Tuesday.As usual,by your reviews, I'm flattered. I don't get all that many, so it's nice when people take the time to R&R. So Thank you!

Dragonlady222: Well, you don'thaveto wait anymore! The Dailies start here!

Disclaimer: I am a red-inked pen.

Eight: Swatches and Lemons

Azreal reeled back, bumping into Yugi. She had very nearly walked straight round the corner and into a pair of guards.

"What do we do now…?" Yugi asked quietly. "Guards behind us, guards in front of us… We're trapped."

"I have no idea." Azreal said happily, almost as if she was enjoying it all. "What we need is a way to get rid of them, a distraction of some sort…"

"What did you have in mind?" Yugi asked worriedly.

"I don't know…" Azreal replied, head on one side. "Maybe something-"

She was interrupted by a bang echoing from one of the corridors. The guards instantly broke into a run in that direction.

"Something exactly like that!" She concluded, grinning. "C'mon Yugi! Follow that noise! Because where there's an explosion…" She paused. "There's bound to be a Kaiba."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The watch continued to beep happily as it hung on the bars, and the two travellers continued to watch in slight discomfort.

Ryou watched fearfully, something about the way that watch was beeping reminded him inexplicitly of what was almost certainly a-

He was interrupted as the wrist watch exploded, blowing the cell door right off it's hinges.

A countdown.

Trying to remain calm, Ryou fought to get a piece of plastic shrapnel out of his hair, cursing quietly as the still-hot fragment burnt his fingers.

They looked at each other.

"Well." Mokuba said eventually "That worked a little better then expected…"

"How the hell did you do that!" Jenna demanded.

"Oh, well, ya see…" Mokuba flustered "I noticed when I was trying to stop the alarm that the watch had an alkaline battery, which was leaking. And then I thought, well, we have the battery alkali and the lemon's acid, so all I had to do was to get the concentration right and I could get it to explode; but of course it wasn't a powerful enough reaction so I had to re-wire some of the circuits so I could pass electricity through it so it would heat up and…"

"Sorry I asked…" Jenna interrupted, indicating with a sweep of her arm that it had all gone completely over her head.

"I wasn't expecting it to be that powerful…" Mokuba concluded sheepishly. "I just wanted to blow the lock up, not the whole door…"

"I was wondering that myself…" Seto commented. "There's no way that such a simple bomb would blow up a door unless you somehow managed to-"

"Um, sorry to interrupt…" Ryou put in. "But that bang will have alerted pretty much everyone in the building. Maybe we better hurry this up…"

"Uh-huh." Jenna agreed. "So, unless anyone has two lemons and a watch with a dodgy battery, that may cause a bit of a problem…"

The problem she was referring to, of course, was the fact that Mokuba's bomb had only broken his and Ryou's cell- Seto and Jenna were still trapped and guards were approaching rapidly.

"Seto…" Mokuba began, suddenly realising something. "Tell me you really _do _have something in your eye…"

Seto gave a rare smile. "Did you ever doubt me, brother?" He asked, removing his contact lenses.

"I never could…" Mokuba said, reaching through the bars for them.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Oops, wrong turn!" She laughed.

He groaned. "This is by far the worst rescue I've ever been on…"

"Ah, don't be like that Yugi! Try to enjoy this!"

Another, louder, groan.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Ryou and Jenna watched in amazement as Mokuba fumbled with the contacts, fitting them into a kind of 3D oval. They were even more surprised when a full projection began to rotate in the air in front of the retina scan. It clicked open, and one of the locks 3 red LEDs changed to green.

"I'm guessing those aren't ordinary contacts." Ryou said quizzically, and it was Seto answered.

"No." He said, a hint of pride coming into his voice. "A little something I'm working on… They're actually mini cameras and, as you can see, holo projectors. They can take in just a few less images a second then the human eye, but unlike the human eye can capture full dimensions- Height, width, depth, whatever. Then they can project a realistic image of whatever you like." He smirked in self-satisfaction. "Unfortunately, they do make your eyes water, but as soon as I've worked that out, I'm selling them to the Intelligence agencies."

"No way!" Jenna cried. "You _have_ to release these commercially! How much do they cost to produce?"

"Not much as people would think." Seto shrugged. "But who'll pay ,ore money for them?"

"You are so sneaky…"

"Hey, maybe we should stop chatting!" Mokuba said, looking up from examining the lock. "We don't have much time left, and this thing still has voice recognition and a card swipe…"

"I can beat the voice recognition." Seto said. "The card I wasn't expecting…"

"Would this do?" Ryou asked, pulling the key card he'd stolen before out.

Mokuba didn't respond, instead taking the card and running it through the lock. Another light turned green.

"Here's a question…" Jenna said thoughtfully, her voice rasping from lack of water. "If there's all this security that'll only open for Metal Man, then how did the guards open it alone before?"

"There must be a manual override somewhere." Mokuba shrugged. "Seto? The voice recognition?"

Seto pulled a small organiser out of his pocket. "Hey," He said to Mokuba as he began to press some buttons. "Remember this?"

"You actually kept it?" Mokuba said in surprise. He had brought it as a birthday present for Seto a long time ago.

The elder Kaiba nodded. "Yes. As you said, it's better then the ones I made… except it has been slightly modified. I knew they wouldn't let me bring my laptop, so…"

"They smashed it." Mokuba said sadly. "Your laptop I mean."

"Why do you doubt me?" Seto shook his head. "That wasn't my _real _laptop. That was a decoy- so they'd think I didn't have any escape plans. Plug this in." He ordered, passing a wire through the bars to his younger brother. Mokuba did so.

"What are you going to do with that?" Ryou asked curiously.

"If it's a voice recognition lock…" Mokuba began, beginning to figure it out himself. "Then somewhere inside it's memory it must have the password it needs to open!"

"Exactly." Seto nodded. "So all I have to do is hack in, find the appropriate voice code…"  
"And play it back to itself!" Mokuba completed as Seto set to work.

"With an Organiser?" Ryou echoed indcredously, then shook his head. "Your Kaibas. I should've guessed…"

"Presto." Seto murmured a moment later as Bling-man's voice came from the small speaker he'd installed in the organiser.

"Let me in, quickly! I'm a busy man with no time to spare!" The organiser said in a perfect imitation of Bling-man's voice. The last LED turned green, and Seto swung the door open.

"Easy as that." He commented.

"And you didn't do this before because…?" Jenna asked, disgruntled.

Seto shrugged. "I wanted to see how this would turn out."

"You Physco…" Jenna replied, too tired to yell.

Mokuba laughed. "The Kaiba brothers do it again!" He cheered.

"Yeah," Jenna whispered under her breath. "Sooner or later they'll make you into a platformer…"

It seemed nobody had picked up on this joke at first, until she heard Ryou humming the Super Mario Brothers theme absently to himself.

"What?" Seto demanded, his glare back in place.

"Nothing…" Jenna smiled innocently, heading towards the door. "Now let's get out of here!" She turned again to Seto. "Get a move on, Mario!"

Seto scowled harder, but Mokuba chuckled.

"Super Kaiba Brothers…" He said, by way of explanation. "Oh, never mind…"

The good humour did not last long, however, because when Jenna opened the door they found themselves face to face with a pair of Guards.

And the barrel of a gun.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Yugi?"

"Mmm…?"  
"Now is _most defiantly _when they need us."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They froze.

"See?" The one holding the gun taunted. "For all your clever tricks and schemes, you can't stand up to one little gun! I don't know how you got out of that cell…" He continued, taking in one open cell door and one burnt-out one melting on the floor. "But I'm telling you, this bullet will go straight through ya- and anyone standing behind you."

Seto, standing next to Jenna at the front of the group, smiled. "Keep him talking." He whispered to her. "You seem to be good at that."

Jenna looked at him quizzically.

"Speaking of people standing behind you…" He offered in explanation, glancing up the corridor.

"What would shooting us achieve?" Jenna said to the guard, sounding desperate. "Why would you go through such trouble to bring us here just to shoot us?"

"We only need the Kaiba brothers." He replied shortly. "So there's no problem with my shooting you and your boyfriend… In fact, it's inevitable."

"We're not going-!" Jenna began to protest, before the guard was knocked out by something that gave off a discord of sound as it made contact. Whoever was doing the hitting managed to get the other guard with the back lash, and the two sunk like stones, revealing the two people standing behind them.

"You know," Azreal said conversationally, Yugi shaking his head behind her. "This is a really nice guitar, Ryou. You should take better care of it." She tossed it to him. "Hi everyone."

"Jenna." Ryou smiled. "Allow me to introduce Anna Mitsan."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Impressive, impressive…" He mumbled "Why didn't we spot those two on the CCTV?" He demanded.

"Well, we were still putting the fake feed through the cameras…" One lackey said hesitatingly. It had been the bosses' idea- To mess with the guy's head so he would give up the kid after all. "So we didn't…"

"Spare me your excuses." He said, rolling his eyes, turning back to the only monitors in the building that weren't still showing Kaiba supposedly beating the girl up. "Yes…" He continued. "I wasn't expecting any less of them, even with all the new arrivals…Well, well, well…" He smiled, pausing for thought, then nodded. "Yes. Let's make this a little fun… Get everyone to their positions and start the 'simulation'- for a real adventure!" He cackled at his own wit as all through the building, walls moved and rearranged, floors folded out or back, and the whole building in general mutated, leaving our heroes stranded in a room that was, temporarily, completely and utterly dark.

But it was only just beginning…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: By the time you're reading this I shall more or likely be already camping in the middle of a field for a Christian Festival! Whooo! Makes me Dance! _(Dances) _'Why,' I hear you thinking, 'How is she going to update from a middle of a field? Does she have a laptop?'. The answer is no. I have a younger sibling- I knew I'd find a reason for them one day- who shall henceforth be known as the Update Monkey! Go Update Monkey! _(Pokes) _So, if all goes to plan, join this fic again tomorrow and I'll see you all on Monday night or Tuesday!


	9. A Giant Rubiks Cube

A/N: If you are reading this, Update Monkey has succeeded. Thank you to her- Have a cookie! _(Tosses Cookie)_

No Review Responses today, due to the fact it's still only Wednesday. But I'll reply to them all when I get back!

Disclaimer: Really sick of these things…

And now, a Short Chapter with a long Title!

Nine: 'We're off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of… A Giant Rubrics Cube!'

"Great timing." Seto commented, smiling at Azreal.

"Hey!" She said "Never doubt other-worldly timing! It never fails!"

"Then why are you always late…?" He smirked. She punched him on the shoulder.

"If your nose wasn't already broken…" She growled, before glancing at the aforementioned broken nose and Jenna's current state. "So, in a very short version, what happened here?"

"She was 'questioned'," Mokuba replied, gesturing a thumb at Jenna. "Ryou smacked him in the face." He finished, gesturing at Seto who glared harder as Azreal laughed slightly.

"He got you hard…" She said admiringly.

"Thanks for your sympathy." Seto spat back.

"Ah, you deserved it!"

"What did I do!"

"Knowing you, everything." She teased. "Besides, I don't think there's a human alive who doesn't want to punch you every time they see your smirking face…"

"Those two really don't like each other, do they?" Jenna whispered to Ryou.

"Are you kidding?" Ryou muttered back. "Last I heard, they were dating!"

"Really…?"

"Yes… I'm just surprised he isn't more resentful of Yugi turning up…"

"Maybe we should move." Yugi said, looking round at them all. "Isn't it time we all got out of here?"

"Okay!" Azreal yelled, clapping her hands "Everyone! Move out!" She pointed dramatically at the doorway, which promptly collapsed in on itself as the all the light went out.

"I didn't do it!" Azreal protested. "I _so _did not do it!"

"The whole building's rearranging!" Mokuba yelled back as the floor changed beneath them. "Woah!" He screamed as part of the ground beneath him folded back and a wall slid up, the fifteen year old jumping out of the way just in time. Although in the pitch black he had no way of knowing it, similar things were happening to the others.

The whole building was folding, morphing, twisting, turning. Doors gave way to holes, corridors became ceilings, the whole world was confused, nothing was where it was supposed to be, everything became something it wasn't before, like a manifestation of insanity.

Somewhere between a minute and an hour later, the movement stopped and Mokuba got shakily to his feet, no way of knowing where the others were or if he had lost them in the confusion.

"I think it's stopped." Azreal's voice came from his right. Not alone after all, then.

"Thank goodness…" Jenna grumbled from behind him. "I'm sure the floor flipped right over…Anna? Did we lose anyone?"

"I'm here." Mokuba offered, realising he hadn't spoken and therefore the two girls would be unaware of his presence.

"Me to." Ryou's voice echoed from the darkness. "Everyone okay?"

"Blind but alive." Yugi said- Mokuba had no idea where he was but could practically hear his optimistic smile.

"Seto?" Azreal called worriedly. "Seto? You still here?"

"Would you all shut up and help me find the lights!" Someone responded grumpily. Mokuba rolled his eyes- that was Seto alright.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

In re-tellings of the tale, more fanciful reporters would claim that Seto had in fact said 'Let there be light', however out of character that may seem. The reason for this is that no sooner had he finished his sentence was his wish granted as the floor tiles lit up, blinding them with harsh yellow light.

A moment later, Mokuba's eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness and as his vision cleared he could see his surroundings for the first time.

They were in a long, thin, corridor where there was barely room for two abreast. The walls were in fact made up of a seamless mixture of various floors, walls and ceilings of other rooms, and the only light came from the floors where the tiles seemed to double as fluorescent lighting strips, making everyone seem slightly yellow.

"This is pretty amazing…" Azreal said in awe, running her hands over the perfectly fused wall "The entire buildings like… like… a giant… Rubrics cube."

"I never could figure those things out…" Jenna commented glumly.

Ryou shook his head, before asking "Well, what now?"

"Don't you get it?" Azreal asked.

"Nooooo…" Everyone else replied.

She sighed. "Oh c'mon…" When she realised that they weren't going to get it, she said in her best Munchkin voice "Follow the Yellow Brick Road!"

"That was a creepily good impression…" Mokuba shuddered, leading the way. He had never liked that film…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"This must be a pretty long corridor." Jenna commented. "How long have we been walking?"

"I could tell you if someone hadn't blown up my watch." Ryou joked, but then nearly walked straight into Mokuba who had stopped suddenly. "What's the matter?" He asked curiously. He couldn't see anything…

"Ssh!" Mokuba prompted "Can't you hear it?"

The group listened attentively for a moment, before shaking their heads.

"No…"

"I don't hear anything!"

"But…" Mokuba said in frustration. He could defiantly hear something… A low humming, hanging just out of ear shot.

"Well…" Azreal said quietly "Mokuba does have very acute hearing. Like a wolf."

"Uprising, considering how loudly he plays his music." Seto commented wryly, pushing his way to the front to stand next to his brother. "What's the matter?"

"I'm not sure…" Mokuba frowned, looking around them. "There's just something… Aha! See there!" He pointed. Seto nodded as everyone else craned their necks in a failed attempts to see what they were looking at. Mokuba turned back to explain.

"There's some sort of projectors here." Mokuba said slowly.

"I think they're some sort of lasers. Pity we can't see them…" Seto said, crouching. "I can't be sure…"

"One way to find out…" Ryou shrugged, pulling a random Euro from his pocket. "I really should have gotten around to changing these." He commented. Ryou flipped the coin high in the air, and it flew over the Kaiba's brother's heads, arcing before finally tumbling back down to Earth.

Everyone held their breath. At first, it seemed like the coin was going to make it, then, as it reached waist height,

It set on fire and crashed to the ground, making a small blackened dent as the tile it had landed on went out.

"Well, I guess that that mystery's solved." Azreal said wryly. "How do we get past?"

"There's a terminal hidden in the wall!" Mokuba realised, pointing some five metres down the corridor where a small box was barely noticeable. "I bet if we could get there, we could turn it off…"  
"but how _do_ we get there?" Yugi asked.

Mokuba felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked down- for he was taller then Azreal now- and gave her a quizzical stare.

"Well, go on then." She said.

"But…" Mokuba began.

"Go!" She yelled.

Mokuba swallowed and ignored the quizzical looks being thrown at him. He shut his eyes to optimise his hearing and listened carefully, trying to plan out where the lasers were in his mind.

"He's not seriously gonna-!" Jenna began, before Ryou told her to ssh. Trying not to let his concentration be disrupted, Mokuba took a step forward.

And he didn't go up in flames.

So far so good.

He didn't dare open his eyes. All he could hear was his scared breathing and the low humming. The silence- or maybe his fear- was deafening. He could feel a slight heat on his ankle. It had been close. Steading himself, he took another step.

Forward. Forward. Left. Duck. Right. Step High, Step High. Left again…

The process seemed to last an eternity, every step like the passing of years. Suddenly he heard an eruption of noise behind him, and, opening his eyes in surprise, realised he had got past the lasers and was standing right next to the control box.

"Yes!" Azreal cheered. "Go on, Wolf boy!" The others joined in the exuberant celebrations for a moment.

"I never want to do that again…" Mokuba half-groaned, half-hysterically-laughed.

"Now you just have to turn them off." Seto said, thus killing the mood completely, earning an elbow in the hips from Azreal.

"Right." Mokuba nodded, licking his lips and jiggling with the lock on the control panel, surprised to find it wasn't locked at all. He swung the door open, studying the working inside. "This might take a minute…" He said.

59 seconds later, the lasers flashed briefly into view before puttering out completely.

"Well, give the boy a gold star." Azreal grinned as they resumed their trek up the floor-lit corridor.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"How much longer can his corridor last?" Ryou wondered.

"I don't-" Mokuba began, still in the lead. Then he noticed that the light from the tiles beneath them was fading under another, paler light. "Wait!" He cried. "I think we must be nearly there!"

They came out into a large glass dome, that gave a clear view of the Sun setting.

"It's evening?" Yugi wondered "Just how long were we in that corridor…?"

"Long enough for it to be Sunday night?" Ryou wondered. "Surely not!"

"Maybe you're just really slow walkers…" A voice came from somewhere.

"I know that voice!" Jenna snarled, as they looked around for the new arrival- where was there to hide in a clear glass bubble…?  
"Of course you know the voice." Azreal said cheerily. "It's the Wizard of Oz!"

"Not much of a wizard- He was trying to electrocute me!"

"From what I remember he wasn't much of one anyway…"

"No way! It _is _you!" The voice echoed incredulously "No way! Oh, this is just _too _good…"

"Show yourself." Seto said dangerously. Someone flickered into the visible spectrum on the far side of the dome. Mokuba felt a bristle of tension- Not only through Jenna, but through Azreal and Seto too…

"Kiyoko." The guy spat her name as though it was a curse.

"Lira…" Azreal said calmly, even a little remorsefully. "What are _you _doing _here_!"

"You should know." He glared at her accusingly. "You're the reason I'm here."

"…?"

Jenna, Ryou, Yugi and Mokuba looked at each other in confusion.

"Anyone else get the feeling that we've missed something…?" Mokuba asked.

"Hmm." Azreal shrugged, looking surprised. "Well, it's not the Wizard of Oz."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Eek! Lira! For those of you who don't know who he is… Meh. I can't be bothered to explain, I have to get chapters 10 and 11 written by this time tomorrow. You'll see next chapter… Wait till tomorrow!


	10. Not The Wizard of Oz

A/N: Go Update Monkey! Umm, got to go now… It's Thursday and I have to get another chapter written by tomorrow morning. See, I thought we were coming back from camping on Sunday and we're actually coming back on Monday… _(Sweatdrop)_

Disclaimer: Duuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh

10: Not the Wizard of Oz

Lira was still smiling bitterly at the other end of the dome.

"You didn't answer her question!" Seto barked, ignoring Azreal pulling on his arm in an attempt to restrain him. "What are you doing here!"

"Oh, touchy." The other boy smirked. "Still sore? Oh, and I work here."

"You're losing your powers." Azreal said, folding her arms. "Aren't you? How else could this lot all hear you before? When you were in your Muse form?"

"Well, so have you." Lira spat back. "And a lot quicker then I have. Admit it, you're half dead! How long do you have left, Azreal! How much longer can you go on!"

"Shut up!" Azreal yelled. "Just shut up! You say you work here! Why don't you get on with your job!"

"I couldn't!" Lira began walking towards them. "I had everything." He said bitterly. "And then you stuck your nose in. I was the best muse they had! I had the best girlfriend who would surely become the President of the company, and then you ruined everything!"

"You were speed inspiring! It was illegal! And you could've hurt innocent people!"

"I don't give a damn about innocent people!" He snorted. "Everything was going great for me, and then you turned up and got me banished!"

"You deserved it." Azreal said, venom dripping from every word.

"So did you." Lira replied, giving a twisted smile. Azreal looked at him, and stared him out. He turned to Jenna instead.

"And then you…" He said. "You took away the only joy I have! And you took away my dignity!"

"You were trying to kill me!" Jenna screamed back "I don't have to justify myself to you! What are you going on about anyway! I don't care what your little vendetta with Anna is all about but-"

"Jenna…" Ryou whispered, the only one who could stop her.

"Who are you working for, Lira?" Seto asked icily. "What's going on here?"

"I can't tell you that." Lira said, smiling. "And if you want to get on in this maze, you have to get past me."

"You're way outnumbered." Mokuba pointed out. "Give it up." He laughed.

"No, no." He chuckled. "Kids today are so violent… No…" His eyes glinted. "If you would care to look down, you'd know we were going to settle this the old fashioned way…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

One of the world's best kept secrets is that of another one. Another Realm, not populated by humans, but by Muses. A long time ago, when things were simpler, The Muses and Humans had a bountiful relationship in which the Muses would help humans achieve their greatest joy- creating- and then the Muses pretty much breathed in what was released into the atmosphere. Although there were many theories as to what it actually was, it was just generally termed as Creativity- or at least on of it's by products. The interesting thing was that when this stuff- invisible to humans but as essential as food and water to the Muses- was given back to people. It had no effect.

And so it seemed balance had been achieved. Once a Muse and a Human found each other, they were together for life. A partnership to keep each other going. Although Muses had a council, somewhat, it was a life tailored to the individual- if you wanted to survive, you found a human and stuck with them. The humans didn't have a problem with this- the two sentiments on the Planet were making it a more beautiful, dream-like place. There was an unspoken agreement between the two races.

And like any agreement, it was quickly to become tainted.

No-one really knows who started it or exactly what happened- it was like an unspoken thing. Suddenly humans wanted to be independent, and a lot of Muses were sick of their job. The Human-Muse alliance just one day fell to pieces. On day they were friends, but as the new day dawned they were fighting for the right to the Earth; and the Muses were fighting another war- how to survive without humans.

The War did not last long, though nobody knows the exact date or details of everything else. That particular chapter of history has been so mixed with folklore that it is impossible to decipher one from the other.

One thing that is known is that the Muses were losing. Despite their number advantage, not to mention abilities such as turning invisible to the Human eye, they could not win, simply because the Humans were desperate to.

Stories tell that Books and Papers and works of Art and Materials and Musical Instruments were all destroyed by the Human's fanatical leader, though his name changes from tale to tale. In every case, he (Or she in some versions) stopped all the Creativity, in an attempt to starve the Muses out.

And it worked. The Muses were dying, on the battlefield and off it. The Population was declining rapidly.

The Humans did not fair much better- they did not die off, but some would rather be. With no way to create- even if they were suspected of having an idea they were reprimanded- The Humans were miserable, soulless creatures.

It was a pointless war. A War with no start and seemingly no end. They were fighting for the sake of fighting; one side was rapidly dying off, the other trying to fight without making any plans, trying to improvise their way to victory, wherever victory was.

There was a General of the Musing Army at that point. He was the People's Hero, their strength in the dark times; he had won more battles, saved more lives then anyone else. He was a rising Star in the Military, but he was the only one who saw. He eventually gave out the order that if Muses and Humans could not live together, the Muses would live separately, secretly. And the Populace followed him- He had a lot more sense then the fanatics that ordered them to stay and keep fighting. There was only one flaw in the General's Plan- Where would they go?

Then a Woman got up. No-one knew who she was, or where she had come from. But she calmly announced that she had built a floating city where they could all live in peace, along with the facilities for them to funnel Creativity up to the city and to visit the Humans in Secret. After the first batch of evacuees left, she was never seen again. There are even rumours that she was a Human, the General's old partner before the War happened.

But Historians said that that was tosh: As soon as the War came along, Humans and Muses never, and would never get along.

Whatever, it was on that day that the buzzing metropolis that became the Largest City of Wherever. The Muses left Earth, leaving no traces or memories of them behind, and built it up and up. Then they gradually spread out into more great cities: Wherever, Somewhere, Nowhere, Elsewhere and Anywhere; at the four corners of the Muses' Realm surrounding Wherever, the capital, in the centre. The General was elected as their leader, and the Muses reached their second Golden era.

From that day on, the leader of the Government has always been a man, though of course nowadays it is filled with Males and Females, Muses and those NIPs who have weaker powers and therefore chose to do other work as opposed to acquiring Creativity; usually the descendants of those who had been sick of Musing Work and the ones that had been in charge of the building projects in Wherever's development. Whatever the case, they have all been chosen for their skills in making decisions for the good of the People.

The President of the Musing business, however, has always been female. Young hopefuls, one that show talent at an early age, attend separate schools to the ones NIPs go to. There they are trained in all aspects of Musing- from understanding their powers to convincing cynical humans that they are real to mind wipes and, naturally, gathering Creativity itself. When they reach a suitable skill level, they are given a job as a professional Muse, making trips down to Earth where they come back with 'food' for the Population, usually respected and heroes.

And, until Azreal stuck her nose in, Lira Klio was one of the best.

He was on the fast track to promotion, riding the Gravy Train. He was the brightest, and best, in the Company's eyes. As he frequently claimed, he 'got jobs done twice as well and twice as fast as anyone else!'. And he was more then that, idolised by the general population, loved by his employers, and going steady with the current President's Daughter, Ruby. He had been seen as a caring, Public, all-round good, amazing guy.

What they did not know, however, was that he Speed Inspiring illegally, taking ideas from the past and planting them in his charges head. While the process was undoubtedly quicker then the more traditional way, it was illegal for a good reason, seeing as the Creativity given out was tainted, poisoning the Muses and turning humans to forgers and frauds. It was inevitable, sentient creatures being the way they are, that a little crooked creativity would get into the Atmosphere, but it was too little to harm anyone. Unless, of course, it was helped along by a Muse too lazy to work for his status…

What they also did not know was that the loving relationship he supposedly had with Ruby Kiyoko was incredibly falsified. Ruby was the favourite to take over the company next, and Lira was the perfect consort. He was going to wait till just before she got promoted, and propose then. If one of the other two thirds of Ruby's triplet set, Emerald or Opal, had been in Ruby's position, he would have been going to them instead. He would be in one of the best positions for men in the Musing community- married to the President would bring him instant respect. It was the Muse equivalent of being married to the Pope- in the power stakes, of course, seeing as the Pope would never marry due to his beliefs. And the fact that they were usually pretty old. Everything was going perfectly. No-one suspected a thing.

Except for one person. Azreal Kiyoko, Millierie's fourth daughter, a dirty half-human. She had never liked him, was always suspicious… and when 'someone' started to steal ideas from Shakespeare, she was even more so. She had been accusing him of Speed Inspiring for years, but could never prove it. No-one would listen to her anyway, seeing as she was not only half-human, but clumsy as well. The fact was, the Population at large loved Lira, and hated Azreal. Especially when he pretended to be all sympathetic, not holding a grudge against her and blaming it on her human blood.

However, he couldn't have her hanging around forever, just in case she somehow managed to prove it. So he calculated very carefully, and, at a party when he and Azreal came to be alone in a room together, he came onto her as he had onto so many other girls over the time he had been with Ruby, intending to sweeten her into silence. She wasn't having any of it, and was just starting to push him off when Ruby entered.

To his credit, Lira reacted quickly, blaming the entire affair on Azreal, and Ruby believed it- After all, they were sure Azreal's mind was a little unbalanced from the mixture of Human and Muse in her blood. Once again, Lira pretended to by sympathetic, but Azreal gained another black mark as she got another scandal to her name, and she was sent on her last-chance assignment.

That was where it all went wrong, Lira decided. Azreal hung around on Earth for too long without contact to Wherever, and went and got herself sick- losing control of her powers; the first step towards losing them completely. And she left a pretty mess behind her. Many extra mind wipes, a practical joke blown out of all proportion, giving her father his memories back…

And guess who they sent in to clear up.

That was a rather uneventful trip. Apart from Kaiba and him constantly winding each other up- particularly when lira discovered Seto's unbidden feelings for Azreal- the job was pretty much in and out. He barely had to do anything.

In fact, he didn't have to do anything. By the time he had got there, Wheeler's Comic was back on track.

However, after that Fiasco, daughter of the President or not, Azreal lost her job, not to mention her home. Lira couldn't help watching in satisfaction as Azreal was exiled to Earth. He had got rid of her after all.

His triumph was short-lived. Shortly after Azreal left for Earth, Ruby announced she had caught him with one of his many girlfriends and that it was over between them. And not a minute later, Millierie Kiyoko herself turned up, announcing his sacking due to Speed Inspiring. Azreal had been right after all.

This had been too big a thing to be dealt with by the Musing Courts alone. He had to go to the Government controlled courts, where after a great public scandal, he to was exiled, only a few months after Azreal herself had gone.

What really irritated him, what really got under his skin, was that she seemed to be _enjoying _her exile. The Musing population believed she had died in hospital, she had moved in with her Dad's family, her friends regained their memories and did not have them removed again, she went to school and generally had a better life. This was proved just under a year later, when she had made a brief return to Wherever, saving the City and being welcomed with open arms as a hero; but deciding instead to return to Earth.

Lira had not played a part in the near-destruction of the Capital of the Musing World, but he wished he had. At first all he had thought was revenge, but now, almost four years after his exile, survival was more important. As Azreal had noticed, he had been in the Human World too long now. His powers were fading. Soon he would be a muse pretty much trapped as a human. But, he had no time to concentrate on that- staying alive takes up a lot of time when you're stuck.

For one thing, although he could get enough Creativity to survive, he had to have money to pay for food and other luxuries. He had had to get a job, and it wasn't a very dignified one. He used to be respected, be the best, and now he was just a nameless lackey hired to get answers out of younger girls.

Which is why it really irked him when they refused to answer.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They looked down, seeing that they were standing on some roughly drawn chalk lines. They stretched right across the dome, to where Lira was standing, forming a rectangle. There were two smaller rectangles at each end and another line across the middle.

"A Pokémon stadium…?" Yugi wondered.

"Close." Lira spat. "Duel Monsters, idiot. And I want to duel…" His finger hovered on Azreal for a moment before moving on. "You!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Dun Dun Duuuuuun! Bet you guys can't wait till tomorrow now!


	11. Final Conquest 1

A/N: DON'T HURT ME! Ahem. The lack of update on Monday and Tuesday is not my, or the Update Mokey's Fault. In case you didn't try to log in over the last two days, I'll tell you that it wasn't working. But don't worry! You will still get the same number of daily updates, but it'll just go to Tuesday instead. Okay? Okay. Oh, and by the way, I had a great time on Camp! But I'm back now, and ready to write! And, I was very suprised at all the reviews that had appeared in my inbox... Thankyou! Here goes...

Review Responses: Just one thing... Rubik's Cube. Blame it on Word's oh-so-helpful auto-correct. I'll change the chapter title, but I'm not going back through all the chapter. Thanks to everyone who pointed that out.

Constance the Confused: Hmm... I didn't think he was all that obnoxious... And you fear the cliffie? Wait till the end of this chapter!

X: Oooh, mysterious anyomous reviewer... Ahem. And now I'm going to work backwards through all your reviews.Yes, Mokuba gets Karita for gym. At first I thought maybe he should be retired, but then I thought, well, Ryou has long hair, Mokuba has long hair, it's a bit of a sore subject... And then I thought, what the hell, why not? And here's another cliffie for ya, heeheehee. Hadoukens are good. Veeeeeeeery goooooood... _(Has played too much Final Fantasy/ Read too much 8-bit) _Yes, I LOVE dragons! Haven't seen the lego though... Hmm... Must keep my eye out for that. And I also Loved writing everyone getting bored. It was pretty fun! I do a Vader impression... _(Breathes Heavily) _Luke, I have asthma... Yeah. Only three people find that funny. Willowind, however, does a very funny Yoda impression which I have only heard about via E-mail and which she will probably hurt me for posting here: "Bad grammar I have. A speech defect I was born with. Hate these lines I do. Kill the writers of this script I must." Okay, now I'm going to stop this response before it becomes longer then the chapter.

Dragonlady222: Yeah, if you call sneaky blowing up a cell door. I think that shows some audacity myself...I am also very glad my sibling did it, otherwise I would've been hung my intestines.

Willowwind: I LOVE THE YODA IMPRESSION! Ahem. I was very suprised when I found there was a use for my siblings, but the world is a strange place. Crossaint hyperness? I thought that was just me! And as for Pain au chocolat, well... Yes, Lira is back, but why does that make you glad? Or is it still inexplicable? Well, by the end of chapter 12, you'll be suprised what he does...

Dreamer of Dragons: If you think your siblings are weird, you need to meet mine. Five Words: The Mister Snakey Snake Game. Just don't ask. Really.

Yllom21: Hope I spelt that right. It took me ages just to _say _it! Curse you Brummie accent... I full intend to continue, but 'hilarious and exciting'...? _(Falls off chair at unexpected praise) _

Gohan Hugger: I honestly wouldn't know if this is the best Teenage Mokie fics- I've never read any. But I'm glad you like it!

Devilsdaughter64: Seto plushies? Wow. Don't you wish they sold those? Or Ryou plushies. Even better!

Blarrrg, so many reviews... This chapter's short, by the way. Real short...

Disclaimer: No, no, no!

Eleven: Final Conquest #1

"Me?" Jenna asked, her mouth dry and biting back the urge to laugh hysterically. "But I don't know how to Duel… besides, I don't even have a disk or a deck or anything…"

"Then use someone else's." Lira shrugged. "And hurry up! I ent got all day!"

"She can't use someone else's deck!" Yugi protested. "A Deck isn't just cards, it's made up of your heart and soul! It's as individual as we are!"

"You've missed doing those little tirades, haven't you…?" Seto asked, not quite able to believe that Yugi was still spouting all this stuff.

"Well…" Yugi began sheepishly.

"You can use my deck." Ryou interrupted, speaking to Jenna, but for some reason he was talking in English. "Because, after all, you are everything in my heart."

This prompted several reactions.

Yugi and Mokuba, having no fluent understanding of English, blinked.

Seto rolled his eyes. They were all as bad as each other.

"Awwwwwww…" Azreal giggled.

Jenna blushed and stammered and didn't know what to say.

Ryou laughed at Jenna's expression until she wasn't sure whether his statement had been serious or not.

Lira grew impatient.

"Can we just get on with this people?" He said. "It's not like I'm gonna duel anyone else. Not even you, Kiyoko," He added. "As much as I'd like to crush you."

"Makes me wish I'd listened all those times you tried to show me how to play…" Jenna said nervously, as Ryou smiled reassuringly and showed her how to strap on one of the disks he'd brought from the flat. He had even had his cards out when they'd first met, that first day of college…

o-o-o-o-o-_ Fall through the mists of time…_o-o-o-o

_Jenna dashed madly through the doors, hoping desperately that this, at last, was her classroom._

_Alas, it was a library. But according to her map, if she went out the back door of a library, she'd be in the right corridor._

_She weaved in and out of shelves trying to run without looking like she was running. It was hopeless! This one of the college's number of libraries was huge and elaborate, seemingly endless… She came out into an apparently central area, though by now she had lost all faith in her sense of direction. There was a bunch of tables, and some computers as well as the books laid out on shelves in an incomprehensible filing system._

_"You look lost." Someone commented. She turned to see a white-haired boy smiling at her from one of the tables. Apart from him, the place was deserted, so they could talk freely._

_"I am…" Jenna groaned. "Any ideas where the Key Skills room is?"_

_"Not a clue!" He grinned "I couldn't find it either. Supposedly the class has been cancelled anyway."_

_Jenna collapsed into a chair near him. "Really? Well, at least I'm not late… so, we have a free lesson?"_

_"Assumedly." He smiled. "I'm Ryou Bakura, by the way."_

_"Hey." Jenna replied. "Jenna Notlaw. So… What's up with all the cards?"_

_This Ryou character had been sitting alone at the table, with a bunch of playing cards laid out in front of him, coloured in various shades of yellow, purple green, and one or two blue cards. Jenna was momentarily distracted by some of the pictures… some of these were really well drawn…_

_"They're Duel Monster Cards." He said, sounding a little surprised. "I was just changing my deck a little…"_

_"Oh." Jenna frowned. "Yeah, I think I've heard of 'em…"_

_"I guess they never did get all that popular over here then." Ryou laughed, but he looked a little sad as he stacked them back up. "They were just about to lose popularity in Japan too…"_

_"You're from Japan?"_

_"No… I just lived there for a while." He stood up. "Excuse me, I have to go and look for my next class so I actually find it before it starts!"_

_Jenna laughed, standing up to. "Good idea… Well, it was nice meeting you."_

_"Yes." He agreed. "Apparently your direction is as bad as mine. I expect we'll bump into each other again."_

_They began to leave in oppisite directions._

_"Yeah! And maybe you can teach me that game of yours…" _

o-o-o-o-o-_ Back to Reality _o-o-o-o

She never had learnt to play. Ryou had tried on several occasions, but she hadn't been able to sit still long enough. The more experienced players attempted to give her a quick crash course.

"Yellow ones are monsters, Orange ones are effect monsters, Blue ones are Ritual Monsters, which can only be summoned if you play a special magic card…"

"Magic cards are green, by the way. You can tell what they do by reading them."

"Same with traps, except those are purple."

"And you have to pay tribute for monsters with more then four level stars!"

"Sacrifice one monster for level five or six monsters, and two for seven and above!"

"Remember, you start with 8000 Life Points and a hand of Five cards, then you draw at the start of each turn!"

Jenna stepped forward into the box as they continued to shout rules at her.

"Some Magic cards are Field cards, and they change the arena you're playing on."

"Yeah, then there's Quick Play, Ritual, Equipment and even some-"

Mokuba was cut off abruptly. Jenna turned, slightly unsteady, and saw that the others were watching from behind a glass wall that had sprung up from the floor. Mokuba was still saying something, but Jenna could hear none of it.

"Sound proof glass." Her opponent smirked, "We couldn't have this be a fair fight, now could we?"

"Shut up…" Jenna mumbled. The lack of food and especially water was beginning to affect her…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Give it up." Seto told the others, who were still trying to teach Jenna how to play. "She can't hear you."  
Azreal sank down to the floor beside him. "I'm surprised you're willing to entrust your fate to a complete novice." She commented.

"I'm not. But there's not much I can do right now."

Ryou's hand curled into a fist. "This isn't fair…" He muttered angrily. "He only picked her because she's hurt and because she doesn't have a clue how to play…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Jenna's hand shook as she reached out to draw her hand. Or was it her vision blurring? She blinked, suspecting it was both. As her fingers made contact with the top card of Ryou's deck, she closed her eyes.

This was it. Everyone was counting on her! But she had no idea how to play, and she was so tired…

_Okay, deck. _She thought, half laughing at herself for talking to a stack of cards. _You don't know me, and I know _nothing _about you. But between us we hafta get everyone outta here, so I'd appreciate your help… Just give me the pieces of the puzzle and I'll do what I can to put them together._

"Quit stalling!" Lira snapped, causing her to open her eyes again. "Get on with it!"

Jenna nodded, sent up one final plea- whether to some unseen God or to the deck itself, she'd never know- but then, taking a deep breath she drew five cards from the top of the pile, scanning them.

There was no orange or yellow in sight, which meant no monsters. Was that good or bad? She couldn't tell, it seemed Ryou's deck was made up of a mixture of English and Japanese cards. While she spoke fluent Japanese, asking her to read it was impossible and a waste of time. There was one English card- Monster Reborn, which sounded as though it may come in useful later, and one that was in Japanese, but for some reason the picture was of a large letter 'N'…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They were only a few moves in, but Jenna had already lost more then half her life points, down to 3000, while Lira remained unscathed. She really had no idea what she was doing. She had tried to use her Monster Reborn much earlier, only to discover there was nothing to revive. Since then, all she had drawn was letters. She had attempted to play some of the Japanese Magic and Trap cards, with no clue what they did, because she had to discard them if she didn't. It was worth just trying to activate them.

But she still had no monsters! And, by this point, she had come to realise that that was bad. Lira had some sort of powered up creature on his side of the field, all Jenna had was some Purple card with a load of people dressed in Blue Robes on it.

Her concentration was failing… she knew that if she paid attention to what Lira was doing, she might learn something, but she was so tired…

"And now, I shall attack for the last time!" Lira yelled. "I love to say that it was a good game, but this is the most pathetic fight I've ever had!"

The Monster was coming towards here. Surely this would kill her… Unless…

"I activate… my trap card… thingee." Jenna shrugged, flipping it face up and hoping desperately it would help. To her surprise, for the first time in the game, it did, as Waboku appeared, absorbing the attack.

"One lucky move…" Lira snarled as Jenna punched the air. "But I doubt you have another Waboku… So you have one more move."

"One more move…" Jenna repeated dully, crossing her fingers as she drew. Still no monsters! Just another letter- that was all she had drawn since she started playing! What, was this a deck or friggin' alphabet soup? She had been collecting these letters, never discarding them but not knowing why she kept them… She was sure they were trying to tell her something… N, L, I, F,A. There was something about them.

If only she could remember what it was.

All her brain wanted to do was shut down…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: This was the original A/N as typed on Thursday night:

A/N: Ahhhhhhh! Oh no! Will Jenna be able to get through the Match! Seeing as it's my fic, you never know what will happen… Oh, and if I didn't make it very clear: I am going camping tomorrow, which is Friday the 27th. I am going on a Christian Camp till the Monday. While I am away, my sister will be updating for me. So by the time you are reading this, I'll be on my last day of camp.

And now, let's hear it for the Update Monkey that's kept this fic up while I was gone! _(Claps and Cheers) _Thank you from me, and my readers!

On a final note, I am tired after writing chapters 8-11 in three days.

Until tomorrow…


	12. Final Conquest 2

A/N: To be honest, I have nothing of interest to say, except that this chapter will mean a lot more to you if you've read Amusing for Inspiration, otherwise it'll be a little pointless. But necessary. Necessary but pointless. Yeah.

Review Responses:

Dragonlady222: I'm updating soon, as in now. All I'll say is this... This chapter may (not) suprise you...

Gohan Hugger: Oooooooookay... I'll go with that:D

Dreamer of Dragons: The Mr Snakey Snake game was there own creation. They also have songs about boomerangs, goblins, hobbits and energy drinks, and it's not usual for them to jump into a room, shout 'I'm a happy camper!' and jump out again. And they're older then me. I always thought that my little sister and my mom were the only sane ones in the house, but now they've been absorbed to. There is a reason why my friends refer to our house as 'The House of 'eccentricity'' (And no, I can't spell.) Annnnnnnyhoo, enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: Hey, why's it called a _dis_claimer if I never claimed it in the first place? How can I un-claim it if I never owned it? So therefore I really should be writing a CLAIMER so I can then actively DIS-CLAIM it, right! Sure, I'll write a disclaimer when it gets a more suitable name…

Twelve: Final Conquest #2

"She looks in a bad way…" Yugi said worriedly, and he wasn't just referring to the fact that her defeat was looming, inevitable, just on the horizon. "She looks ill."

He spoke truthfully. Jenna did look sick. And, now that they thought about it, she had been very quiet, especially by her standards, pretty much since the building had re-arranged itself.

"We'll just have to hope she wins regardless." Ryou sighed, not even he was managing to sound confident in Jenna's hopes of victory anymore. He wasn't even too bothered about the duel at the present point anyway. He was just hoping she'd be alright. Yugi had voiced what he had been thinking. They were all tired, hungry and thirsty (Except for perhaps Seto- Ryou wondered if he needed sustenance at all) but Jenna seemed worst off then any of them…

"What do we do if she doesn't win?" Mokuba asked. He hated to ask when he knew they were all worried about Jenna's wellbeing and he knew they should try and be optimistic in her prospects; but he also knew that she didn't stand a hope in hell and that they needed a practical place to go from there.

"We wait here until one by one we all starve to death." Seto said bluntly. "As much as I hate to say it, I've assessed everything we have, all our assets, a full search of this dammed glass box we're in… and there's no way out. In other words, unless she wins, which we won't, we will die." The whole speech was delivered in a simple, monotone voice, as matter-of-fact as you could get.

They all looked at him in dismay, except for Ryou who was still preoccupied by Jenna's predicament and Azreal, who punched him on the arm once again.

"Why can't you ever be optimistic?" She moaned resignedly.

"That _was _optimistic!" Seto insisted. "Worst case scenario- Joey and Téa come to try and save us, and we have to spend our last moments with _them_." He shuddered.

"I won't let that happen!" Mokuba said fiercely. "We are _not _going to die!"

This time all the attention was on him, even Ryou was focusing now. Seto raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, waiting for Mokuba to impress him again.

Mokuba wished he'd actually _thought _of something before he'd said that.

"I still think she can get out of this." Ryou said slowly. "I have to believe that, or she won't. After all, she's got us out of worse messes before. Normally got us into them as well, but…"

"Like?" Seto asked doubtfully.

"Like that time just before we left when we were in London looking for a certain shop that sold the four pronged plugs we'd need in Europe …" Ryou began another of his stories.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Seto couldn't stop laughing as he pictured Ryou and Jenna being chased by a drunk, hopelessly lost, around the back streets of London. This, of course, earned another hit off Azreal.

"Let him finish!" She snorted, desperately trying to stop her mouth as it twisted into a grin. "There is a point to this story, ya know."

"Well," Mokuba interrupted grimly. "It'll have to wait. I think it's all about to end…" They all stood, or sat in silence to watch Jenna's defeat.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Jenna stared in vain at the letter cards as though that would help her understand the Japanese text. She was off to a good start- she could read the pictures. Big whoop.

"What's the matter?" Lira jeered "Treasuring your last moments? Or are you suddenly going to remember you know how to play after all?"  
As soon as he said that, the memories forced their way through the wall of time and exhaustion, and Jenna gave a small, brief smile. "That's exactly what I'm going to do."

o-o-o-o-o-_ Fall through the mists of time…_o-o-o-o

_The train shuddered and shook from side to side as it wound lazily through the summer heat, crossing the border from Spain into France. Inside one of it's stuffy compartments, two people, a girl and a boy, were sitting in companionable silence. _

_Jenna glanced up from her book to see Ryou, as he so often did when he was deep in thought, flicking through his old Duel Monsters cards. She often a time wondered whether he was actually concentrating on them or, as she suspected, he was letting his mind wander to times of long ago, to old people and places and the adventures he'd had. His eyes were distant for sure, seeing something that wasn't there. And even when he looked happy, there always seemed to be pain behind it…_

_"What is your obsession with those cards?" She asked, shaking her head, in a lame attempt to snap him out of it._

_"If you'd let me teach you how to play, you'd know." He replied. "Wait. Let me guess. Are you suddenly going to remember you know how to play after all and I don't need to show you?" _

_Jenna laughed. "Uh-uh. No way. According to you, duels could last for like half an hour! I'm not that patient- I have an attention span of all of five minutes! No, unless you can win in the first move, just don't even bother!"_

_"There are ways to win in the first turn." Ryou informed her. "If you're lucky, and get the cards you need. You can win in one turn if you've managed to assemble all the pieces of Exodia. Or the five Final cards of course. I have those in my deck." But the words fell on deaf ears._

_"Uh-huh…" Jenna said vacantly, already re-absorbed in the adventures of Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect._

o-o-o-o-o-_ Back to Reality _o-o-o-o

"F…" Jenna gasped, laying it down. "I…" She knew she could win. Victory was within her grasp. "N…" She could feel her consciousness slipping away. If only she could have a drink, then she'd be alright… "A…" She realised she'd fallen to her knees. Or maybe climbed. Which way was up and which was down?" "L. Final. Which means…" She smiled. "You lose."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Ryou punched the air, but his celebration did not last long as Jenna finally collapsed all the way down. But they were still trapped behind glass walls! Lira didn't look as though he was about to do something, standing there in shock. There was no way to get to her…

Or, at least, there wasn't. The walls sank back into the floor with what could only be describedasa shloomping sound, and Mokuba stood up from his crouched position in the corner, looking pleased with himself.

"Hope you brought your wallet, Seto!" He grinned even as they began to head over to Jenna.

"I'm going to stop betting on your abilities. I'm gonna go bankrupt."

Ryou paid no heed to them, running to his fallen friend.

"Jenna?" He said fearfully, supporting her into a sitting position. "What's wrong with you?"

"Did I win?" She asked. Ryou nodded. "Good…" Suddenly she started laughing, a whispering, quiet, chocking laugh. "I've got your keys, Ryou…" She said, pushing them into his hands.

"What on Earth is wrong with her?" Yugi asked.

"I don't…"

"I'm fine." Jenna mumbled blearily. "Just a little thirsty."

"Dehydration?" Mokuba said doubtfully.

"She has been here since Sunday morning…" Ryou said slowly, looking around as more and more daylight crept across the floor. "And now it's Monday, and we haven't had any food or water…"

Mokuba nodded. He and Ryou had had something before they had left the Kaiba Mansion. Azreal and Yugi had undoubtedly done the same. And he had no doubt that they had given Seto something while Jenna was being questioned- Whatever the reason he was there, they would want him alive and well.

"Now that I think about it…" Mokuba said slowly. "She didn't have anything on Saturday either. She was feeling a little off then. She couldn't keep anything down."

"It would've been more then a little off if she couldn't even drink water!" Ryou snapped. "Why didn't anyone tell me! Three days, people! That's what she's done! Three days! The limit! Why didn't you say anything!"

"She said not to…" Mokuba replied uncomfortably, shuffling. "She said you were always worrying about something and that you were already worried about me so you shouldn't know and I didn't realise that it would end like this, and besides, I didn't realise she wouldn't have a drink all day, I was sure she'd have something and I would have said something if I realised she hadn't had anything all day and I'm sorry!"

"You are the only person I know who babbles when they feel awkward as opposed to going silent." Azreal said, digging in her pocket. "Geez, I wish she'd said something…" She pulled out a small bottle of mineral water from her pocket, tossing it to Ryou. "Then she could have had this sooner. Make sure you don't give her too much!" She warned as Ryou began to help her drink. "You'll overload her system. Besides, now that we've had a nice reminder of how important it is to stay hydrated, we'll _all_ need some of it from time to time- we don't know how long we'll be stuck here."

Mokuba watched remorsefully as Jenna finished her drink due to finally falling totally unconscious, and he felt a twinge of guilt. This had been Kaiba business, between him and Seto and them. None of these people had anything to do with it. And, all of a sudden, it didn't seem like much of an adventure anymore. As he looked around, he could see how it had escalated. People were getting hurt. It was only a matter of time before the damage was permanent and a lot more final… The danger was steadily increasing, and not just for the others. He had been ignoring the nagging sensation of thirst in his throat for some time now; no doubt the others had to. He didn't know how long they had left. He'd have to hope it was more time then they had left in the building…

He felt Azreal brushing past him, and looked up in surprise.

"Where are you going?" He asked curiously.

"Me?" Azreal responded, though no-one else was moving. "What do you expect? I'm going to go save another life…" She continued to head up towards the far end of the dome, and towards Jenna's would-be murderer.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Lira was on the floor, sunk to his knees. He couldn't believe it! Not only had that brat of a girl beaten him in the questioning room, she'd beaten him in a duel! He had been practising for three years, so he could smack that smug boyfriend of Azreal's and get his full revenge, and he had been beaten by someone who had never even picked up a deck! And in front of Kiyoko to! How many times must he be humiliated for her entertainment! And now, the infuriating half-human, traitor to her race, was approaching and looking on him without sympathy or pity. He wasn't sure he wanted it.

"Why are you doing this to yourself, Lira?" Azreal asked, her words echoing in the dome but unheard by her friends at the other end, because she kept her voice low.

"I'm not doing this to myself!" Lira snapped, looking up. Azreal could see the tears of rage in his eyes, and the madness. There was no doubt about it. Lira was insane. He had lost any grip on life he'd had, gone completely over the edge. "You did this to me!" He sprang instantly up in a fit of rage, but Azreal did not flinch. "You did this to me! You and your damn boyfriend! Everything was fine till you came along!"

"No it wasn't." Azreal said calmly, "You were hurting my family and you were going to hurt the entire population."

"I was fine!" Lira continued, not hearing her. "Everything was going great! Then you ruined it all! All of it! I got sent here!"

"Stop ranting!" Azreal commanded, slapping him round the face. Lira fell to the floor with the lack of control over his body, and lay there gasping. "Stop it right now! You got defeated. Accept and deal."

"Jenna may have got me…" Lira shook with rage, reaching into his pocket as stood back up, his face turned away. "But I can still get you!"  
He swung on Azreal, knife in hand, ready to stab her right through. The knife never met skin. Azreal grabbed his wrist. Lira had gone to pot over the last three years, and his mind state was nothing great- she could hold him still easily. They stared at each other, but rather then seeing his hatred reflected in her own, Lira saw sadness.

"Four years…" She said. He turned away, but he could still feel those large, mournful eyes boring into him, inescapable. "Just four years. The Lira I knew was a jerk. An ass through and through. But he would never, never have killed anyone with his own hands. He would never had killed anyone if he there was no way to convince himself that he wasn't responsible."

Lira struggled to pull away, but still she held him, her words continuing unabated.

"Seven years ago, you wouldn't have even done that. You would never would have killed anyone, full stop."

He didn't want to listen, but there was no way to block the words from his ears, no way to stop them getting into his mind…!

"Ten years ago, you were going to make your parents proud no matter what you had to do to yourself to get it."

That was ten years ago. He was just eleven, two years older then Azreal. People change.

"Fifteen years ago, when we were just kids. That year I lived in Wherever before my mom became President. Do you remember?" Azreal couldn't help smiling at the memories. "You always played with my sisters and I, even though all the other kids wouldn't go near me. Even though your parents said not to fraternise with me, as though half blood was something that would spread."

Lira didn't want to listen. He knew what was coming, and he knew it would change him. He didn't want to know. It would destroy him…!

"But you did anyway. We were once friends. You said that it didn't matter who my parents were, as long as I was what I was. You made me laugh when I was crying. You played with me when everyone else ran off. My sisters were your best friends, and when they were mean to me, you were still nice to me regardless. I idolised you, Lira…" Azreal smiled bitterly. "And then mom got promoted, and it all changed. You don't have to be this way Lira. You never had to be this way. As long as you are what you are, remember?"

"I remember." He said, still turned away, sobbing. "I didn't want to, but I do."

Azreal released him, knowing that now Lira would redeem himself. But instead he kept going, rambling on.

"I was focused on you." He screamed. "You were my revenge! I obsessed about it! For the last three years, your death has been the only thing keeping me going! I didn't just want to kill you, I wanted to humiliate you, make you suffer, and _then_ kill you, so you could feel just a tiny bit of what I have! You took everything from me…" He finished bitterly "And now, you've reminded me. You've even taken my revenge away from me."

For the first time, Azreal felt a coil of fear rise in her gut. She began to back away. Lira didn't notice. He was really insane. Totally, utterly, irredeemably insane. His words were the ramblings of a mad man.

"You were to be my final conquest…" Lira spat. "But you took that to! What more do you want? Well, there's one thing you won't take…" He raised the knife. "You won't get it! Now my final conquest will be… me!"

Azreal realised what he was going to do and screamed at him to stop, stop it then and there before he could no longer have the choice. But it was too late. There was nothing she could do but watch as Lira Klio stabbed himself and sank, bleeding, to the floor.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Didn't it seem strange to anyone else that in books andTV Programmes and Films and whatever that the charecters never seem to _need _to eat? I know the authours pick out what's interesting, but when people are going off on great long adventures without food or water it seems silly- but I'm rambelling. Anyway,I'm interested to see how you people react to this most recent development… And I have just one thing to say: He's not dead yet.


	13. We are The Dead

A/N: This chapter comes with a warning, and that is that even though I've been writing fics on this site for almost a year, and before that since I was 9 or 10 and stories since I could write and been making them up even before that, this is probably the most horrible thing I've ever had to write for any fic- CHARECTER DEATH. So, unless you're particullary intrested, skip down to the bottom for a brief summary, because to a lot of you this won't mean anything. Also, my first attempt at anything vaguely angst-y, so it's terrible. Even more so because I HATE angst. Even more so when it has to be mixed in with a humor fic like this...

Willowwind: Ahhhhhhhh! Double negative! 'I don't know hardly any cards'! Ahem. In other news, I play the card game quite a lot, so I know all the rules, but I actually know very few cards off the top of my head except the ones in my deck and the ones people I've played many a time use. Now, I _was _going to write a proper duel, but... I just cheated and used the Destiny Board. Sue me.

Disclaimer: I told you...

Thirteen: We are the Dead

Lira had missed to the extent that he had been aiming for his heart and instead got his lung. Azreal watched helplessly, knowing he would die slowly and painfully. She went over to him, not knowing what else she could do.

"You didn't get it…" Lira smirked, wheezing. "My death is my own…"

Azreal stared in horror at the knife sticking out of his chest. Should she pull it out…? Or was it the only thing keeping more blood in? Would taking it out make it worse or better…? "You see?" He continued as tendrils of white mist played around his ankles. "The Nothing has come for me."

"What have you done…?" Azreal asked. "What _have _you done!"

"You ruined my life. You won't ruin my death."

"I can't save you!"

"I don't want you to!" Lira snarled, reaching out. At first, Azreal thought he was going to strike her, but then he grabbed her hand.

Azreal stared at him. Why? Was he seeking some last comfort? Some final forgiveness? Suddenly, he let her go briefly, transferring his grip to her wrist.

"Dead man's Grip." He panted, blood coming from his lips. "You remember? I won't kill you myself… whatever I'm holding comes with me to the grave…"

"Let me go." Azreal begged softly. Dead man's Grip is common across species- when someone dies, their bones and muscles lock up, and whatever they are holding is almost impossible to make them let go of. But the Nothing was still playing about Lira's feet, waiting for him to die. And when his body was absorbed, Azreal would be taken to… "Please, Lira."

"No!" He replied venomously. "This time, I won't fail!" Suddenly he flinched back, even as he lay on the floor, letting go of Azreal's wrist as he did so.

"You okay?" Seto asked, replacing his boot on the floor from where he had kicked Lira's head.

"Fine." She gasped, clinging her wrist. She suspected it was broken- Lira's grip had been fuelled by years of hatred and rage, fed by bitterness. Yet still she went back over to him. Lira Klio was dying, but he was moaning in fear.

"You see?" He groaned breathily "It's not taking me!" He pointed down, where the white mist was beginning to recede. "It's not going to take me, it's… take me…not… why…"

"Ssh…" Azreal said, her heart going out to him no matter how much she hated him. "You have to figure out what you need to do."

"It's too late! It's too late! It won't take me!" Lira was panicking now.

Seto, watching this exchange, may have found it a little strange, had he not seen it before. When Muses die, their bodies are absorbed by the Nothing that surrounds their lives. They don't mind this at all though. There is an old superstition that if the body is not absorbed then the soul is trapped, trapped inside a body that it can't work for all eternity. As Azreal herself had put it: 'Of course, no-one believes that. Till the moment just before they die.'

When Muses die, it is a far more complicated process then when humans do. For creatures that live so close to, surrounded by the Nothing, it makes sense that there should also be an Everything. Azreal said it was the subconscious will and wish to live. Seto always privately thought of it as something akin to The Force, but he'd never admit that. The odd thing was, Everything seemed to be completely detached from the person's conscious thought- almost like their conscious, Jiminy Cricket style. This, of course, makes it notoriously difficult for any Muse to kill themselves or to be murdered, but it can happen. Sometimes willpower alone will not keep you alive.

Another oddity of the Musing death is that just before the last moment, one of the feathers from their wings will fall out, known as the Wish Feather. This feather will grant the heart's desire of whoever uses it, which at the time of imminent death is usually to live. There is only one thing the feathers can't do, and that is bring someone back to life. He'd never forget the day when Azreal got hers…

"You need to clear your conscious, Lira!" Azreal was saying urgently. "Unless you do, the Nothing won't take you!"

"But I don't know…" He said pathetically, chocking on his own blood.

"Then, for once, let me help you…" Azreal said quietly. "Why did you want to become a Muse?"

"My parents wanted me to." Lira said. Everything seemed distant and far away, and somehow this let him see his feelings with far more clarity then ever before. "My parents wanted me to be a Muse… They wanted me to be the best possible… Whatever I did, it wasn't good enough… it was never good enough…"

"Your parents are dead, Lira." Azreal reminded him. "They died five years ago."

"They were never proud…" Lira replied. "Why weren't they proud? Why couldn't they…" He trailed off. Azreal bit her lip. His blood was soaking into the knees of her jeans as she knelt by him, but she pushed it from her mind. He had reverted to his muse form a while ago, his wings spread behind him, being stained red. She didn't have much time…

Many feathers had fallen from his wings, but only one remained white. Azreal picked it up.

"It's not taking me!" Lira laughed hysterically "The Nothing won't take me!" He felt something being pressed into his hand.

"Your Wish Feather!" Azreal yelled. "Use it! Use it now! For heavens sake… Use it now…"

Lira opened his fingers, letting it fall. "No. What do I have… to live for?"

"Lira… fine. Why did you Speed Inspire? Why did you lie and cheat your way to the top? Why did you tell everyone I kissed you as opposed to Vice Versa?" Azreal racked her brains, trying to think of questions that would clear his conscious in the sparse seconds remaining to him before he died and his body was rejected by the Nothing, left to rot, a Muse's worst fear. To her surprise, Seto walked over, and, placing a hand on her shoulder, he said clearly and quietly:

"Why did you have a relationship with Ruby Kiyoko?" He asked. Azreal looked up at him, puzzling. Seto just looked back.

Lira's first thought to this question was because his parents had wanted him to be married to the future President. But, somehow, the lack of blood was clearing his mind, and he knew.

"Because… because I love her?" He said, unsure, trying the words out. "Because I love her!" His words were slurred, his tongue to big for his mouth- a mouth filled with blood. But now he knew. "I love her… Oh gosh… I love her… I love her…"

"Yes!" Azreal crowed, grabbing the discarded Wish Feather. Technically, it shouldn't work for anyone else until the person who it belonged to was dead. But Azreal had never been one for obeying rules. "Okay, Wish Feather… Grant Lira Klio's Heart's Desire! Bring Ruby Kiyoko here!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Ruby was walking- or balancing- along one of the narrow streets when she felt it. A tingling at the back of her neck. She turned sharply, too confident to doubt what her senses were telling her. True enough, right there, in one of Venice's many canals, a porthole had opened. There was no doubt as to whether she should go through it, but the reason for calling her had better be really good… Not only would she have to leave her current client, she'd have to dive through the murky waters. But the tug was too strong. Someone really wanted her through that vortex. So she went.

The teen she was working with heard the splash, and turned to find his new Muse Guardian had disappeared without a trace.

"Huh? Ruby? Dove siete andato…?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"This better be good…" Ruby grumbled as she stepped through the other end of the Vortex, sopping wet. "I had to jump through a Venetian Canal to get here, and now-" Her complaints were stopped dead in their tracks as she saw the scene in front of her. "Lira…?"

His eyes snapped open as she came and knelt next to him. "Ruby?"

"What have you done to yourself?" She asked, horrified.

"Ruby!" He cried desperately. He knew he had only seconds before he died. He had to tell her, or he'd be trapped. "Ruby! Ruby, Ruby Ruby… I love you. I just realised… I love you…"

Ruby stared at him. "I'm sorry." She said, turning away. "I heard that too many times before, and it was always a lie, Lira. I can't believe you…"

Lira didn't care. He'd told her. But he still had to ask. "Do you love me?"

"I did."

"Then… Do you hate me?"

"…I did."

"Good…" Lira sighed. "That's good…" His eyes closed. "It's still not taking me, is it…? My soul will be trapped…"

"You have to tell us how to get out of this dome." Azreal said, coming close again. "You have to tell us how to get out, and why we're here, and what we have to do…"

"Up." Lira said simply. "Up. Upupupupupupupupup…" He smirked, a shadow of his former self. "The rest you do, lazy." His eyes closed for the last time.

Azreal sucked in a breath. Had they made it in time?

Yes. They were forced to cover their eyes as the white tendrils snaked with impossible power up his legs, over his body, before exploding into a large flash of light and then dying down into a gentle glow where you could just make out the body dissolving.

Lira Klio had made it into the Nothing. It was more then he deserved.

Azreal went over to her sister, both of them crying without really knowing why.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"This is your last chance." Ruby said. "Come back to Wherever with me Az."

"I just visited you a few days ago!" Azreal replied. Ruby was preparing to leave again, and was offering her sister a chance to go back with her.

"I wasn't talking about a visit." Ruby said, piecing Azreal under a knowing glare. "We miss you, Az. Come back with me."

Azreal laughed. "With no powers?"

"Why not?" Ruby looked at her sadly. "You can't even call a vortex on your own… who knows when we'll next get to see you? Besides, the Muse population doesn't even hate you anymore. You saw for yourself how much they adore you."

"It'll be soon enough." Azreal said firmly. "Besides, I would rather stay with people who didn't need me to save them before they liked me."

Ruby hugged her hard, still crying from earlier. "You must have seen from your visit where you belong…"

"I did." Azreal pulled away slightly, to look her sister right in the eye. "Here."

"If you stay here, you will die. I can't do anything for your friends, but…"

"I'm staying, Rubs. I belong here."

"Okay." Ruby smiled sadly. "As long as you're happy, you could claim to belong with a potted plant for all I care." However, Her face crumpled and she cried harder.

"Why are you crying?" Azreal asked. "Why?"

"Because I'm looking at the living Dead."

As all this unfolded, no-one saw Jenna shifting slightly, except for Ryou, who noticed the weight movement in his arms. But now didn't seem like a good time. He watched, holding his breath, as she slowly woke up.

"If we are dead," Mokuba replied stonily to Ruby's earlier comment. "Then let the dead walk. Let them crawl back and cling onto life, because you only get one, after all. We are The Dead? Fine." He shrugged. "Then we are The Dead who won't lie down and accept it." He saw the doubt in Ruby's eyes. "If you claim we are Dead, then our abilities are as dead as we are- Not. Much." He'd never thought he'd ever say something like that, but...

_That'd make a good song… _Jenna thought blearily.

Suddenly Ruby laughed. "He's got a whole lot of Everything." She commented. "You'll go far with these people, Az. I mean, Anna." She smiled slightly as she began to head back through the vortex. "Yes… Anna Mitsan, of the Human race." She gave a final wave, and plunged back through the vortex into the icy waters of the canal, coming face to face with her worried charge.

"Avete rimasto qui? Tutto questo volta?" She asked in surprise.

"Naturalmente!" He said, pulling her out. He was about to demand where she'd gone, but on seeing her worried face he felt inclined to ask instead: "Che cosa é la materia?"

Ruby went to tell him, but then shook her head, closing her mouth. "Niente. Sono benissimo." She gestured and continued to walk in the same direction they had been earlier, leaving her very confused charge to chase after her.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Why are you crying?" Seto asked quietly, trying to keep the conversation private from the others. "Why do you cry over that jerk?" To most, it wouldn't sound sympathetic at all. To others, however, they knew it was just his way of telling Azreal not to cry.

It was some minutes since Ruby had left. Lira was dead. Now they were just trying to get their heads together before they went 'up'.

"He's not worth crying over, Az." Seto muttered. "He never apologised, never redeemed himself… He only told you the way out so the Nothing would accept him. A bad person doesn't deserve your tears."

"You're wrong." Azreal sniffled. "Sure, I never liked Lira, I'll never miss him, but I'm crying because another living being is dead and because the only ones who'll remember them will have nothing good to say." Azreal sobbed quietly, but without wavering. "I'm crying because another soul has died without love. I'm crying because the World has just taken another lost soul that'll never find it's way. There's no such thing as a bad person. There are just people who have been mislead, misguided and misunderstood; as much by their own hearts and minds as by anyone else's. And I'm crying because no-one can see that."

_That to…I should write this down. _Jenna thought, her mind becoming steadily more active over the last few minutes, as she surfaced from her dream world in the same way a diver would surface from a vat of treacle.

"You can see that…" Seto reminded Azreal. He had no idea what the hell she was on about, but for once was sympathetic enough to realise now would not be a good time to tell her."And, let me tell you Az, if anyone's going to change the world, it's you."

Jenna remembered that she had five senses, not four, and finally, at last, opened her eyes to see Ryou, Yugi and Mokuba watching her, Anna and Seto off to one side, and she watched as first Anna, and then Seto, came over to her.

"We won?" She checked, having got her bearings and succeeded in sitting up.

"You did." Ryou said. "And I swear, next time I'll tie you to a chair and _force _you to learn how to play!"

Jenna laughed. They all did. (Except Seto, as it goes without saying) It was relieved laughter, the laughter at how unlikely this all was, how dumb, and from pure joy of being alive against all odds. Surviving, no matter what.

For a little while longer, at least.

Eventually, some time later, Mokuba stood.

"I hate to say this…" He said regardless. "But sitting here is doing us no good at all. Let's move." The others stood up around him, and Mokuba blinked, not used to taking the initiative. He glanced up at the ceiling, as though he could see through it up into the next floor. If they were to trust Lira, then that's where they had to go. So they'd go.

Just to see what would happen.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Urrgh, that was terrible... espically if my Italian is as bad as I think it probably is... Okay, summary: Lira popped his clogs, but first he told Azreal how to get out- Up. There were tow OOC inspirational speeches on the parts of Azreal and Mokuba, and, Oh yeah, Jenna woke up. So, until tomorrow my spudunkles!


	14. Saint Joey

A/N: Geez, that last chapter was depressing! So let's have a little fun at the expense of… Joey! AND GUESS WHAT! THIS IS NOW OFFICIALY (sp?) MY LONGEST FIC! Whooo! Everyone gets a celebratory cookie:D

Review Response:

Dragonlady222: Heh, they may get to go up... And about Mokuba having no need for adventure after this? I wouldn't count on it... heeheehee...

Disclaimer: I do not own YGO

Now, let's get on with it! Poor Seto, his nightmares are about to come true as things spiral steadily more and more out of control...

Fourteen: Saint Joey

"So, what did I miss?" Jenna asked. They all glanced at each other, which made her a little nervous. "No, seriously, what?"

"I'll tell you later…" Ryou muttered, placing a hand on her shoulder as he walked past. "At the moment, we need to figure out how to get out of here…"

"We have to go up." Azreal shrugged.

"But the only thing that's up there is the ceiling…" Yugi replied. Sure enough, all there was was a plain white ceiling, slightly cracked and flat. It looked as though it had once been domed, but had long since sagged. Although the windows filled all the walls and ran the complete height of the room, the ceiling was as plain and ugly as any other. The floor they were standing on was covered in sand, causing everyone to have to move their feet every few seconds to avoid sinking. As it was, this caused them to not notice something…

"Do you feel that?" Mokuba asked suddenly.

"What?" Jenna asked.

"A rumbling…"

Sure enough, there was a slight shaking in the floor, getting more powerful as it travelled up the floors.

By this time, they all knew what that meant, and threw themselves to the floor, sand flying, huddling together. Floors shifted, walls collapsed and the building generally rearranged itself. Some moments later, as the big finale, the floor flipped violently, and they were all thrown up into the air before landing painfully, sand falling in torrents like rain around them.

"Everyone okay?" Yugi asked, spitting sand out of his mouth.

"Yes, but now that that's over…" Anna said, brushing sand off herself gingerly with her good hand. "I really need to do something about my wrist. If it wasn't broken before, it will be now…"

"Well, I'm just great, Yugi." Jenna groaned. "I've been ill, kidnapped, beaten up, nearly electrocuted, had a door blown up in front of me, nearly been killed by lasers, forced into a fight with some Physco who stabbed himself, grew wings, and disappeared, ill again, and now I've been thrown up into the air and landed in the same place, rather painfully I might add, and all this in the last weekend! Yes, Yugi, I'm just awesome." She laughed.

"If I didn't know any better…" Ryou said, digging his way out of the sand "I'd swear you were enjoying this."

"I guess I kinda am…" Jenna said thoughtfully, sounding surprised. "Not an experience I'd care to repeat, but…" She shrugged. "Hey, it beats daytime TV. Especially Japanese TV…"

"Hear hear!" Azreal agreed, having failed in her attempt to find someone who had bandages on them, and so had pulled out her hair band, hair cascading down her back as it was released, and then, stretching the Alice Band to it's full potential, was proceeding to use it carefully as a very, very makeshift bandage. "Girl after my own heart…" She grinned, her pale face the only sign to how much she wanted a pain killer right about then.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

One person, however, was taking a painkiller, but not as strong. Joey Wheeler had one hell of a headache.

"Painkillers!" She said, walking in, catching him in the act. "Admit it, Joey! You are Hung Over!"

"I am not!" Joey insisted, getting a little annoyed. At first he had been kinda pleased when Téa turned up for the weekend for a surprise visit, but it had quickly gone sour when he realised the invitation Serenity had extended to her was anything but a friendly reunion. And now this was getting beyond a joke.

"I can't believe you'd do this to yourself Joey…" Serenity said, looking at him with mournful eyes. "You saw what it did to our father… Why are you doing this!"

"I'm not doing anything!" Joey roared, frustrated.

"You've been going out every night, Joey." Téa said sternly. "And then you come back at some unearthly hour every morning and wake up with a headache."

"I haven't been out drinking!" Joey replied stubbornly. This whole scenario was laughable. Okay, so he _did _have an occasional drink, but they were as rare as a full moon. Honestly, didn't they know that growing up with an alcoholic father was enough to put him off for life?

"That's what dad always said!" Serenity yelled, sobbing. "That's what he always said, and no wonder mom left! I haven't said anything to mom, but I had to do something…"

Suddenly Joey didn't find it so funny when his 16 year old sister started crying. "But Serenity, I-"

"No buts!" Téa roared, suddenly going into Xena-butt-kick mode. "What are you doing, Joey? Alcohol will ruin your life!"

"Téa…" Joey laughed in bewilderment. "If you'd let me get a word in edgeways-"

"You have to stop convincing yourself that it's okay!"

"You're the one who needs convincing! I-"

"How are you affording it, anyway? Oh, Lord, don't tell me you're stealing to!"

"Téa! If you'd listen-"

Téa continued to rant and rave about the dangers of alcohol and what it would do to his body. Rolling his eyes, Joey ignored her and began to dial a number in on the kitchen's telephone.

"…It'll kill your liver and kidneys and…" Téa blinked. "Hey! Are you even listening? This is _important_, Joey! Serenity phoned me because she was worried about you!"

"Oh, shut up." Joey replied, tossing the phone to her. He folded his arms and leaned back on the kitchen counter as Téa listened to the Phone ring.

"Hello?" Came a voice at the other end finally.

"Oh, um, hello…" Téa replied glaring at Joey.

The line fell silent for a moment, and then: "Can I… help you at all?"

"Well…" Téa flustered. "You see, I was having a conversation with my friend Joey and he tossed the phone at me… Who am I speaking to?"

"Joey!" The woman on the end said in delight. "Oh, he's a saint, isn't he?"

"Um…"

"He comes here every night and the children just _adore _him!"

"Just who am I speaking to?" Téa asked, looking questioningly at Joey, who looked at the floor.

"Why, the _I Believe _Youth Centre, of course." The woman said in surprise. "Surely he's told you about us?"

"Actually, no…" Téa said, hardly daring to believe. "Would you mind explaining?" She heard a click as Serenity, who had left the room a second ago, picked up the extension.

"Certainly." The woman replied curtly, before proceeding to recite as though she was reading out of a leaflet (Which, she in fact, was): "All over the country there are children who cannot bear to be at home. Who social services have overlooked. Who are too scared to ask for help and who are chucked out onto the street every evening. The _I Believe _Foundation will not overlook these children, giving them friendly ears and sound advice; places just to come inside and have fun and make friends. We are completely discreet with any information children give us, giving it only to the necessary people to improve their quality of life. With our team of willing, non-paid volunteers, we hope to give these youngsters a happier present, as well as a brighter future."

"Right…" Téa said. "And Joey would be one of these volunteers?"

"That's right!" The woman trilled happily. "One of the best! And so dedicated! He's goes to work all day and then comes to us and then goes to night school so he can get some qualifications so he can get a better job…Has he had his results yet, by the way? He said they were coming today!" She didn't give Téa chance to answer before continuing "Anyway, It's obviously something he's passionate about!"

"I see…" Téa broke into a grin and Serenity re-entered the room. "Well, Thankyou!"

"My pleasure!" The woman responded, before hanging up.

"You see?" Joey asked "No drinking."

"But the headaches…?" Serenity asked.

"Ever spent four hours hanging round with three year olds who get beaten if they so much as breathe loudly at home? They get hyper!" Joey shook his head. "When I first walked in there, I couldn't believe that parents let kids so young wander round on their own…"

"You really are a saint!" Téa informed him happily, hugging him. "I can't believe you're doing youth work and never told me!"

"Well, I've kinda been there, you know…?" Joey said uncomfortably, wishing Téa would let go of him. Why did she think he hadn't told her in the first place? Téa was about to respond when a happy, bouncing, jingling tune echoed from upstairs.

"Oh, that's me!" Serenity said. "I'll be right back!" She pounded up to her room to locate the sounding Mobile.

"I'm so proud of you!" Téa continued, hugging him harder till he could barely breathe. He tried to push her off, grabbing her sides and trying to get the message across by pushing and pulling-

Which was, of course, when his mother walked in, back from her early morning swimming class. She mumbled something in embarrassment, before backing slowly out of the door.

Fifteen minutes later, Joey, his mother and Téa were gathered around the table eating breakfast. Serenity was still upstairs. Joey ate automatically, wishing he was anywhere but here. So when the phone rang, he, naturally, was the one who dived to answer it.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Hello?" Joey's voice came eventually, sounding desperate. "If this is a wrong number, feel free to hang around!"

"Joey?" Solomon Motto asked warily. "Um… Maybe I should talk to Serenity? If this is a bad time…"

"It couldn't be a better time! So, what's up, Gramps?"

"I was just wondering whether you had seen Yugi."

"No, not since Serenity's birthday. Why?"

"It's just…" Solomon sighed. "I went on a trip with the club, I just got back yesterday."

"Oh? Did you have a nice time?"

"Yes, it was wonderful," Solomon replied impatiently. "But that's not the point! Yugi seems to have disappeared. Tristan thought maybe he'd come up to you with Téa… seemed to be quite offended that he hadn't been invited, but…"

"Maybe he's out drinking." Joey spat sardonically.

"What!" Solomon yelped.

"Nothing, never mind…" Joey replied hastily. "Anyway, I think there's something fishy going on here… Anything else I should know?"

"Nothing else unusual is going on… There was a sale at the paint shop, the Kaibas have thrown in the towel, Tristan got a new bike…In other words, no."

"Wait, wait! What did you say?" Joey couldn't believe his ears "About the Kaibas?"

"Well, the factory hasn't been working all weekend." Solomon shrugged.

"But Kaiba would never…!"

"I hardly think that's important right now, Joseph!" Solomon snapped. "The workers are probably on strike or some such. I just wanted to know where my grandson is!"

"This is too weird to be unrelated!" Joey moaned. "Grandpa, we'll be there in just under three hours!"

"What…? Joey, what're you…?" But the blond had already hung up.

Solomon sighed. He hated Mondays…

"Roll on retirement…" he groaned, though, if he was honest, he pretty much was already.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Joey hung up and began to quickly outline the situation to Téa, who responded in much the same way as he had. Just then, the sound of footfall came on the stairs, and a moment later Serenity entered the room.

"This came in the post for you, Joey." She said, tossing him a letter having picked it up on her way through the hall. She gave a few more letters back to her mom, and then turned worriedly to Joey and Téa. "That was Tristan on the phone. He said that Yugi-"

"We know!" Joey and Téa chorused, Joey adding: "Though it took him an awfully long time for him just to tell you that…" He let the matter rest- for the moment. At the moment his focus was on the letter he was reading. The room fell into silence, making him a little uncomfortable, as he read. Then, he finished, slammed the letter down, and stood up.

"Well, ladies," He said, turning to Téa and Serenity. "Who's up for a little trip down to Domino City?" They both nodded.

"We need to get there as quickly as we can!" Téa agreed.

"Right." Serenity said.

"Then let's go!" Joey said, beginning out the door.

"Hold on just one moment!" Joey's mom said, as though to a three or four year old rather then to a 16 and a 19 year old. "Now, I have to say that I think you're all over-reacting!"

"Mom…" Serenity began.

"No, listen to me!" She continued, not letting Serenity into it at all. "One old man can't remember where his grandson is- bless him- and a factory goes on holiday and you all act like it's the end of the world!"

"It could well be." Joey muttered. Serenity looked at them in confusion.

"What factory?" She asked.

"Apparently the KC factory has been silent as the grave all weekend." Joey said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh! I hope Mokuba's alright…" Serenity fretted. Joey decided for his own sanity that he would not look any further into that comment, and continued regardless.

"Anyhoo, Yugi and Kaiba disappearing at the same time? That cannot be a coincidence…" He finished, punching one hand into the other. As one, the three people began to walk towards the door again.

"But Joey!" His mom protested "You have to work today, or you'll be fired…" She sounded very sympathetic, Téa thought. She later found out that this was because Joey was stuck in a dead-end job with a Taxi firm, with a terrible boss, and that he hated every minute of it. His family had never been well-off, which was why he had gone straight into work, so he could earn something. However, ever since he started he had been going to night school, for once desperate to work his way out of his rut via study.

"Fine!" Joey shrugged, striding across the room to the phone, punching a number and waiting.

"Joseph…?" His mother asked uncertainly.

"Hey…" He said, gesturing at his mom to sush. "Mr McDonald!"

They could hear his boss bellowing at him down the phone, asking what he was doing phoning when he should be on the way to work.

"Yeah?" He gave a slightly manic grin. "Well, you don't have to worry, cause I quit!" He went to hang up as the bellowing increased volume, but then seemed to think of something better to do. "You know… there's always something I wanted to say to you… I'm sorry, but you smell about as rank as the taxi you drive. _Baaaaaad."_

The volume increased some more, but Joey couldn't resist a final, parting shot.

"Oh, by the way, according to the contract, unless I'm fired I get to keep the car. So thank you!" He hung up, and turned to the now silent room. "Get them where it hurts!" He grinned. "Right in the wallet!"

"Joey!" His mom screamed "What _have _you done!"

"Chill Ma!" Joey waved the letter at her, gesturing at Téa and Serenity to start heading towards the door. "I don't need that job! I passed night school!"

"Joey, that's wonderful!" His mom yelled, going to hug him. "We have to celebrate!"

"Sure…" He said, running off. "Celebrate! Throw a party! Go wild, you know! Later!"

He dashed towards the door, leaving his mom to shake her head behind him. She was too proud of him to be annoyed.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Okay, so here's the plan…" Joey said, speeding down the roads. "We get into Domino ASAP."

"That's it?" Serenity asked indcredously "That's the _entire _plan?"

"Well…" Joey defended. "We'll hafta go look around, see what we can find…" He growled in frustration as the radio kept barking out orders at him. He turned it off.

"Maybe we should get Tristan and Ryou on the way round…" Téa said thoughtfully. "They'd probably want to be in on this…"

"Hey, that's a thought!" Serenity added, before Joey could say anything. "Seeing as he's here to visit, if anyone knows where Yugi is, it'll be Ryou!"

"Well, give him a call!" Joey enthused, slowing down as they passed a speed camera.

"Okay…" His sister frowned. "Anyone know the number for his flat?"  
"I can't remember after all these years…" Joey said sheepishly.

Téa rolled her eyes. "Honestly. It's 1-2-3-2-5-8-6-8-3-4-7."

"How do you remember stuff like that?" Joey asked in exasperation as Serenity dialled the number into her mobile.

"Sorry, the number you are trying to call does not exist." The phone insisted. "Please redial and try again."

"There's no answer…" She sighed a moment later, looking worried. "It says the number doesn't exist. Are you sure that was what the number was, Téa?"

"Hey, over the years I've learnt to _never _doubt Téa's memory…" Joey said, for once sounding worried. "Guys, I don't like the look of this at all…"

"And over the years, I've learnt to _never _doubt Joey's instincts." Téa added. "Let's go, people!"

Serenity suddenly felt glad that it was the law to wear a seatbelt.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Joey gritted his teeth, and, ignoring his instinct to swerve, slowed down, pulling up to the kerb. The old woman who had been trying to catch their attention for the last fifteen meters smiled as he rolled the window down.

"Yes?" He asked, feeling a little stressed.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here!" She twittered gratefully. "I really need a taxi!"

"Miss, this isn't a taxi." Joey replied, reigning in his urge to yell at the silly woman.

"But…" The woman trailed. They were blatantly sitting in a taxi!

"It's out of service." Joey explained, roughly.

"Oh…" She said in disappointment. "But my daughter's in hospital about to have a baby and I promised I'd be there…" She looked like she was about to cry.

Joey sighed, his conscious not letting him just drive off and leave her. "Well, okay, I'll give you the number for the taxi firm and you can give them a call-"

"I did!" The woman sobbed. "And I've been waiting here fifteen minutes!"

"We _are_ going past the hospital, Joey…" Téa whispered gently.

"Fine…" Joey groaned resignedly. "Get in the back with Serenity; we'll give you a lift…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Goodbye!" Téa called.

"Congratulations!" Serenity added.

They all breathed a sigh of relief as the old woman disappeared from sight.

"I don't envy her grandchild…" Joey muttered.

"Joey!" Téa scolded. But it was true. For someone who had just been taken pity on and who had just got a free ride she didn't half complain…

"Let's go…" Serenity moaned, rubbing her arm from where the woman had pinched her countless times, saying she was too skinny or that girls today thought too much about boys or that they thought too much about careers rather then looking after their children or that she should be seen and not heard every time she tried to speak or that girls today were ungrateful or about a dozen other things.

Joey nodded, leaving the window open in an attempt to let the smell of wee and cats out now that the woman was not there to complain that it was too cold.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"You have to turn here."

"No, I have to take the next turn."

"No, it's first right and second left."

"It's second left and forth right."

"That cannot be right! Joey! You're going to miss it!"

"Téa, I'm a _taxi driver_!" He snapped in frustration. "I know where I'm going!"

"Well, you obviously don't, or you would be about to turn!" Téa sniffed.

"Fine!" Joey roared "Fine! Then let's go this way!" He yanked hard on the wheel, swerving round the corner just in time, horns blaring behind them.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"This _cannot _be the right way…"

"You think?" Joey asked sarcastically. "And here was me thinking you always got dried up, barren, wastelands in the middle of what, according to you, should be a city. I told you it was the other way…"

"There was nothing wrong with my directions!" Téa insisted. "You just didn't follow them properly!"

"Oh, so now it's my fault!"

"Yes! If you learnt how to follow directions-"

"Well, if you knew how to _give _them-"

"Stop it, guys!" Serenity screamed at them. "Come on! You're supposed to be friends!" They looked at the floor, shame-faced. "Whatever the reason, the fact is, it's almost sunset, we've been driving all day, we're hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere and things can't get much worse!"

Right on cue, the car's engine gave a whirr of protest, puttered, stalled, and came to a stop.

"I told you we should've filled up at that last petrol station…" Joey sighed eventually, breaking the silence.

"Well, how was I supposed to know? I thought we were nearly there! Besides, it would've taken too much time…"

Joey growled in frustration. He wasn't feeling much like a Saint anymore…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"We're still in the same room…" Yugi realised. "It looks like we've just sunk underground…"

He was right. Through the glass windows, you could see pure dirt and soil, piling up in layers. It was actually kinda cool…

Unless you were claustrophobic. Like Azreal.

"Well, how are we going to get out?" She asked nervously. "We know there was no way out through the ceiling…" She turned to where Mokuba was playing in the sand. "Yo, boy genius." She said, slightly exasperated. "We could use your help… now is not the time for making sand castles!"

"I'm not…" Mokuba muttered distractedly, continuing to draw in the sand. What he had in front of him was a rough, but exact copy of the Blue-print they'd seen earlier. "This is where we came in…" He mumbled. "And here's the cells… the room where we met the others… so that had to fold to there… which means that that had to…"

The others watched in amazement as slowly, and carefully, Mokuba began to re-draw the building as it was the first time it had re-arranged. It was a slow and logical process, assuming that the floors and walls and ceilings could not go through each other or change shape; and that the building had to remain at roughly the same dimensions to remain concealed within the hologram that Mokuba was sure now eloped it once again. Then he started all over, trying to work out the latest re-arrangement. This was harder, considering all he had to go on was that the dome had sunk. However, eventually, he had an idea.

"You have something…?" Seto asked, sounding impressed in spite of himself.

"Maybe…" Mokuba warned. "It's very rough, a lot of guess work…" Seto looked over his shoulder.

"Mokuba, if this is right…" He said slowly. "Then the ceiling and the floor switched places…"

Mokuba nodded as they all looked up at what, supposedly, used to be the floor.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Oooh, clever Mokuba! And I just feel I should share with you all that in the first draft, Joey was a milkman. Really. But it didn't work out… Pity, really. I liked him that way! On the way to upload this, I saw that the site will be down tomorrow. I'll do my best to put up tomorrow's chapter today, but I hafta write it first. Oh, and on Monday I am off to Gurnsey on a school trip till Friday, and I'll do my best to get a chapter written for next weekend, but please don't hurt me if I don't make it! Do ya know what's irrataing, and a little worrying? That Fanfiction is warning us all about big changes and saying that we need to come with an open mind on Monday... But I won't get to see till Friday! Maybe even Saturday! Oh, the humanity...


	15. What goes Up Must come Sideways

A/N: Okay, this is short, but what do you expect from a Double Daily update? Well, let's not hang around! Here's chapter 15! Oh, Dragonlady222: That is IT! I am now convinced that you come from the same, or atleast a similar timezone to me, and with no bio to go on, if you don't mind my asking,WHERE ARE YOU FROM!Just in general, I mean... Like England (Whoo!)or France or Canada orthe USA or whatever. I swear, you review so fast it scares me, the ever mysterious dragonlady... Ahem. In other news, I have managed another chapter today, even if it is short. And I am tired. But yes, I'll enjoy my trip, methinks...

Disclaimer: Same old, same old...

Fifteen: What goes Up… Must come Sideways

If Mokuba's theory was correct; if the floor and ceiling really _had _swapped places, then that left a few very good questions, one of which Jenna voiced.

"Here's a question for ya…" Jenna said slowly. "If the ceiling is now the floor and the floor is now the ceiling… do we go up to go up or down to go up? I mean, if up is down and down is up, to go up we need to go down, but down isn't up anymore, because down is now up, so do we go up or down in order to go up?"

"You've lost me there…" Azreal blinked.

"Me to." Yugi added, farther away from the others, nearer to the centre of the room.

"She wants to know if in order to go up we need to go through the floor that used to be the ceiling or the ceiling that used to be the floor." Ryou explained, used to Jenna's speeches.

"Which is what I said!" She protested, rolling her eyes. Azreal laughed.

"That's it!" Azreal declared. "I have found a new best friend, and it ent you, Seto!"

He ignored her, saying instead: "I'll guess we'll never know till we find an exit…" he shrugged.

Yugi felt something moving, a slight shifting in the sand around his ankles. "Guys…?"

"Oh? And how, exactly, are we going to that?" Jenna asked Seto.

"People!" Yugi cried as the movement increased.

"Well, we'll have to look!" Seto cried. "I'm doing my best, alright?"

"Yeah? Then maybe your best isn't good enough!"

Yugi could actually see the sand swirling away now, like water down a drain pipe. "Um, guys…" He tried. "I really think you should see this!"

"I'm doing more then you are!"

"If you call stating the bloody obvious more!"

There was evidently some sort of hole in the floor that had opened up and was now sucking the sand, and Yugi, down it. "Hey!" He yelled. "A little help?" But everyone assumed he was trying to stop the row and blocked him out.

"If it's obvious then why did you ask?"

"You're the 'genius', you tell me!"

"I've found an exit!" Yugi called desperately. "And I'm being sucked down it!"

"You need to be told a lot of things!"

"Really… any help would be appreciated…" Yugi cried, trying to claw his way back up out of the hole.

"Yeah?" Jenna spat back. "Well, come on then!"

"Seto! Leave it!" Azreal commanded. "You to, Jenna. You shouldn't pick fights with Seto, you'll come off worse." She turned to her smirking 'boyfriend'. "And as for you… stop being a smart-arse!"

"Guys…?" Mokuba said uncertainly into the stony silence. "Where's Yugi...?"

"Probably wherever we're going!" Azreal yelled as she grabbed onto Seto in a vain attempt to stay upright as they slid inexorably towards the swirling vortex of sand in the middle of the room.

"Geez, you'd think we'd notice something like that." Mokuba complained as the giant vortex began to suck them in along with all the sand that had previously been the floor of the duelling arena. He slipped, falling onto his back, and teetered on the edge of the large hole before eventually falling down it, yelling out, the others dropping around him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was a completely vertical drop, he was sure of it, yet somehow they came out of a hole on the side wall of a corridor. He sat up, wobbling and disorientated.

"That hole didn't curve, did it…?" He asked. "I'm sure it was straight… but then how did it come out of the wall rather the ceiling?"

"I wouldn't know." Yugi's voice came from one side. "I never understand this stuff…" Hey, at least they'd found him. Mokuba climbed shakily to his feet in order to investigate the hole.

It was a dizzying site when he looked through it. He could see the ceiling of the room he had just been in. They had defiantly fallen downwards, yet the hole came out sideways…

"He must have changed the centre of gravity…" Seto muttered. "Changed the way it pulls… Impressive…"

"Really?" Jenna asked. "So, in essence, we… fell _up_ a hole." (A/N: Heeheehee… LBC crew, you know where I'm coming from!)

"Well, I don't like it much…" Azreal said. "Urrgh… I think I'm going to be sick…"

"Please don't…" Seto replied, though they were all looking pretty green. Having the direction of gravity change was a nauseating experience.

"Hey, where's all the sand?" Ryou asked suddenly, looking around. It was a good question, and a nice way to change the subject.

"There are filters in the floor." Yugi supplied, glad to do something helpful. "They opened up while you guys were out."

"Out?" Mokuba yelped. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You were out cold…" Yugi informed.

"For how long?" Mokuba demanded.

"I have no idea…" Yugi said miserably. "I'd only just woken up myself when the filters opened up, and that was about three minutes ago…"

Mokuba suddenly felt tired. Very, very tired. "So… We have no idea where we are. We also have no idea why we're here, what purpose it serves. And, in this artificial light, we have no way of telling even roughly how long we've been here. Great."

"Well, we can assume by the fact that we're all still here that we haven't gone over our three day survival limit." Azreal pointed out.

"And if the filters for the sand have only just come on, then we can't have been here all that long." Yugi said comfortingly.

"Unless he's trying to mess with our heads." Seto said coolly, earning glares from the others. "What? It's a possibility!"

"You are way too paranoid…" Azreal laughed it off.

"It comes from having a girlfriend like you." Seto shot back, giving a rare smile.

Watching them, Jenna could see that they really did like each other, despite all the banter between them. She smiled to herself. Anna must be a pretty amazing person if she got someone like Seto Kaiba to smile. She had a feeling that perhaps this Anna was slightly more then an average human, but still… She hoped that one day she'd have someone like that…

"Well, this doesn't look good…" Ryou said from beside her. Her focus snapped back to the present, but at first she couldn't see what she was supposed to be looking at.

"What?" She asked.

"Heat, coming up from the floor…" Ryou said, pointing. "A shimmer in the air. See?"

"Ahhh! Fairy!" Azreal joked. A smile flittered over Jenna's lips for a moment, and she laughed a little.

"Great, maybe they can magic us outta here." Jenna sighed, rolling her eyes. This time Azreal giggled. The four boys looked at them in bewilderment.

"What are you two on about?" Mokuba asked.

They glanced at each other. "Never mind!" They chorused, although, true to form, Azreal's was more of a 'N'er' then a 'Never'.

"Okay… and, moving on." Mokuba said. "Any ideas why there would be heat coming up from the floor?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Whatever the reason there was heat coming up from the floor, it was probably not the same reason that there was heat and smoke, issuing from the bonnet of the car.

Tristan cursed. His boss had left him in charge for five minutes and…

The phone in the office started ringing. Tristan looked hesitantly between the smoking car and the ringing phone. Could he leave the car without it exploding…?

He went into the office. If the car was going to explode, he wanted a wall and a space of at least ten metres between them.

"Hey, Ern's Mechanics." He answered.

"Tristan?" Serenity's voice sounded distant. "Since when has your name been Ern?"

"Oh, that's my bosses name…" Tristan began, and then realised what he'd said.

"Your boss? But I thought you owned the garage…"

"Errm… um… yeah, I do… that was the last owner's name… and… it was well known before… yeah."

"I see." Serenity laughed at him. She'd never believed him in the first place. "Well, anyway, the thing is, we have a bit of a problem…"  
Tristan listened as carefully as he could. He thought he knew how to find them, and if he took some rope he could easily tow them to the nearest petrol station- It wasn't far…

"So, can you help us?" Serenity finished hopefully.

"Well…" Tristan looked out at the car, which, as though it knew it was being watched, let out a banging sound and sent sparks skittering across the floor.

"What was that!" Serenity asked in alarm.

"Nothing!" Tristan assured her hastily. It was time to get outta there… "I'll be with you as soon as I can." He promised, hanging up.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"There's an electric current being passed through the floor up there." Seto theorised, sounding certain. "And, looking at the heat coming out, I'd guess the walls and the ceiling to." He squinted. "Yeah, you can make out the wires, glowing red-hot. Needless to say, it's creating a hell of a lot of heat. Too close, and you burn to death. Tread on one of the wires, you get zapped."

"There's got to be a way past them." Mokuba declared, although it looked doubtful. "He's always given us a sporting chance before. A way to turn off the lasers, if we could get to it. A way out of the dome, if we could win a duel. He even let Ryou and I as far as the security room as long as we could get past the guards at the front."

"So you're saying that there's got to be a way to turn these things off…?" Yugi asked, looking around. "Like this?" He smiled happily, pointing to a row of coloured buttons on the wall.

"Just like that." Mokuba grinned, looking at the Red, Green, Purple, Yellow, Orange and Blue buttons. "I guess we better try putting something in… Have a go, Yugi."

"Shouldn't we think about this first?" Yugi asked uncertainly.

"No, trial and error will get us through this." Mokuba said, falsely cheerful.

"Okay…" Yugi licked his lips. "Let's try reverse order…" He pressed them backwards- Starting with Blue and ending in Red.

Another few wires in the ceiling, wall, and floor, lit up and, after a moment, glowed red-hot.

"Okay, every time we get it wrong, it comes towards us… Great." Jenna sighed.

"We still have quite a bit of leeway." Azreal pointed out. "Try something."

"Alright." Jenna nodded. "Let's try… um… rainbow order." She pressed down on the Red, then the Orange, then the Yellow, the Green, the Blue, and lastly, the purple.

More lasers lit up. It was coming down the corridor about a meter at a time, and now there was maybe three and a half left to go… Mokuba swallowed nervously.

"Maybe he's trying to bluff us." He suggested. "Maybe they're already in the right order…"

They weren't.

"Ryou, you try." Mokuba muttered. Two and a half metres.

"But I really have no idea-" He began.

"Ryou! Just try something!" Jenna yelled.

"Okay… um…"

"Whatever comes to mind!" She howled in frustration.

"Fine then! The 2005 General Election…" Ryou shrugged, referring of course to the most recent election in his home country, even though he and Jenna had voted via post from Greece. As it was, they had seen next to none of each party's propaganda, but he knew each party's colour. "Labour won, so Red… Then it was the Tories, Blue…Orange for the Lib Dems…"

"Green for Green." Jenna interrupted.

"Yes, thank you…" Ryou replied, rolling his eyes as he hit the green button. "Any ideas on Yellow and Purple?"

"UKIP is yellow and purple for Labour Co-op." Jenna supplied.

"Right." Ryou said, hitting first the purple and then the yellow.

Surprisingly enough, that didn't work either. With only a meter and a half left, they could feel the air around them heating up…

Seto brushed past and pushed them in the obvious alphabetical order. It didn't work. "Worth a try." He shrugged, gasping.

There was only 50 centimetres left between them and the mass of heat and electricity, in fact, they were having to huddle together just to fit in the corridor without anyone being forced onto the lasers. Mokuba, nearest them, could feel the tips of his hair starting to singe, sweat pouring from every pore. The heat was stifling, and unbearable.

"One more wrong move…" He gasped. "And we'll be out of room in this corridor… We'll all be zapped!"

"And unless we hurry up," Jenna agreed. "We'll all be fried."

"And it's my turn." Azreal added quietly, sounding nervous.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: And there you have it. The very last Daily update… Hope you've all enjoyed them, because I'm telling you, it's been hell to do! Fun though… and now, you'll all have to wait till Saturday to see if Az can get it right, or if Mokuba (Our hero) has to find some other way to save them. I _do _know what the correct combination is, so if anyone would care to have a guess, go ahead. If you get it right, I'll be eternally impressed… There should be a chapter up on Saturday, but, as I said before, I'm on a school residential to the oh-so-exotic Guernsey, so it may be Sunday. I wish Daily Updates could be a normal thing, but school gets in the way. Hmmph. So, hope you all enjoyed it, it hasn't been easy but I tried, and I'll be writing the next chapter in my illegible writing in a spotty notebook in a hotel room! Till then, goodbye!


	16. Rolling Stones

A/N: Hallo! Well, I'm back from me school trip to Guernsey, and I have to say although I _tried _to get this chapter done- It was written on coaches, ferries, beaches, while everyone else was in the swimming pool and in our free time- I couldn't finish it. In fact, I only got the first section done. So I wrote it all this morning. Enjoy. :D

Review Responses:

Erosgirl: Wow, thanks! _(Does happy dance) _I do my best... even though I can't watch any episodes at the moment. _(Glares at ITV) _Oh well, the Japanese version's better anyways. And the Mangas are being relased in August! Well, Horrah!

Dreamer of Dragons: Ahh, a fellow AF fan... Have you read book four yet? Because I was really annoyed when BLANK died... and sad.(Left BLANK incase anyone hasn't read it...) And, a nice guess- logic is optinal- but completly wrong.

Dragonlady222: Okay... I'm embarresed now. I'm sorry if I came off as rude and/or nosy. Well, I guess I am kindanosy because I like to know about people, but... Hey, I don't envy you, working at midnight. I don't have a job seeing as I couldn't even get a paper round even if I wanted to till this year, you can't work at all till 16 and you can't sell anything till 18. Heh.

Disclaimer: Dude, I totally don't own.

Now, here's hoping I can figure out how to upload this thingy on the new site!

Sixteen: Rolling Stones

Azreal bit her lip, staring nervously at the buttons in front of her. There was something about them, if only her brain would slow down enough to think of what it was…

"Anna!" Mokuba yelled desperately, pulling his hair in front of him in a vain attempt to prevent it from burning. "Please, just hurry up!"

_Red and Green._

Seto watched silently. Even he was sweating, the heat was unbearable. And if Az couldn't pull this off…

_Purple and Yellow…_

"Just press something!" Jenna screamed, silently praying that death would be swift.

_Blue and Orange?_

Ryou watched detachedly. Somehow he couldn't believe that after everything he'd survived that he'd die here…

_Exactly like…_

Yugi closed his eyes.

"The Colour Wheel!" Azreal screamed finally, her hands shooting out to the buttons. "They're all opposites! So, Red, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange!" She pressed them even as she yelled the names, adding: "The order of the Colour Wheel…"

In contrast to the intensity of the preluding seconds, the brief lull as the code was processed seemed to take an eternity. In just a second or a thousand, the last of the lasers would heat up, red-hot- firing them right to the grave.

Unless Azreal had actually hit home.

Which, amazingly, unbelievably, she had.

Gradually, the lasers petered out to the sound of a collective mixed sigh of relief and disbelief.

"Heh." Azreal grinned into the slowly cooling air. "I knew it would work. Each colour was next to it's opposite on the Colour Wheel, so I figured that was the order. My first client was an artist, ya know."

"Fluke." Seto smirked wickedly.

"No way!" Mokuba shot back. "You hafta admit, Seto, she was pretty smart…"

"Pretty smart!" Azreal echoed in mock indigence. "Try I'm a bloody genius!"

"Um, I hate to interrupt this Anna-is-the-greatest conversation…" Jenna said warily. "But why is the floor shaking…?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"It's not just the floor, it's the entire corridor!" Yugi noted.

"There's something coming down!" Mokuba realised with a sinking feeling. They watched in horror as what appeared to be a large boulder came rolling irreversibly down the passageway towards them.

"A rolling boulder?" Azreal said indcredously, wrinkling her nose. "Oh, c'mon… everything else in this little house of fun has been sci-fi! There isn't a rolling stone within _five genres _of here!"

"That doesn't change the fact that it's coming towards us." Ryou noted, fighting a grin.

"And somehow, I don't think this one's inflatable." Yugi added, laughing.

"Good job it wasn't this one that rolled over Téa, then… But then again…"

The others ignored the private joke. Now was not the time.

"There's nowhere to run!" Jenna screamed as the boulder got closer. Of course, true to form, the wall behind them swished into the floor, leaving them a good long stretch to run.

"I don't like this." Seto said as the others began to head down it. "I don't like it one bit. We're being herded. Like sheep."

"The alternative is being squished like bugs!" Azreal pointed out, running back and grabbing his hand as the others gained more distance. "Shut up and run!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They bolted down the corridor; Mokuba and Ryou, the quickest, in the lead followed by Jenna and then Yugi, who, as the shortest, had the littlest legs. Seto and Anna were some distance back, running hard but at the disadvantage of their lost lead. And they were all heading blindly down a corridor that someone obviously wanted them to run down, and into whatever trap lay at the end.

"It's a dead end!" Mokuba screamed, seeing that all that lay at the end of the tunnel was a blank wall.

"No!" Ryou replied "Look!"

Mokuba squinted, and saw that the floor at the end of the corridor seemed to be moving. It soon became clear why- because it _was_ moving. There were two pieces of metal swing back and forth, that when they crashed together, formed a circle. When they whizzed out, the pieces disappeared for perhaps a minute or two, zooming off to who-knew-where in the building. Transport.

As Yugi and Jenna caught up with them, Mokuba stared down in dismay into the deep, dark pit below the place where the 'doors' met. What worried Mokuba was that even though they disappeared for so long, they only met for a second before leaving again. And with the boulder so close…

Crash went the metal.

"Jump!" Mokuba roared as the metal pieces began to make their way off in oppisite directions again. If they didn't make this one, the boulder would surely get them… They all jumped, landing safely on one of the doors, apart from Jenna, who, in a minor disaster, landed on the gap between the doors that were getting further and further apart. However, she was quickly pulled onto safe ground, but Mokuba could not relax yet.

For one thing, he was being taken away by a piece of metal going way too fast, and for another, Seto and Anna had not yet jumped. The boulder was so close to them that if they had wanted to, all they'd have to do was lift a finger and they'd touch it. It was bearing down on them in the same way that a sparrow would look to a spider. But they weren't yet close enough to the pit and the metal to jump.

Still not close enough.

Not yet.

The boulder was almost upon them.

Almost…

Nearly there…

Finally, they jumped.

And they nearly made it.

If they had waited a little longer to jump, taken another two steps forward before attempting it, they would've made it. But they had jumped too soon. And now Mokuba watched as his brother and Anna, his only family, tumbled into the pit.

He did not hear them hit the bottom. He could not even see the bottom. And one thing was certain- no-one could survive a fall like that.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The metal swept away into a simple, earth tunnel, going so fast that their hair and clothes were whipped around and played with by the wind. But Mokuba noticed none of it. He was sure there was no way that they would die that easily. Besides, what would be the point of killing Seto now? They obviously wanted something from him.

The last thing Mokuba saw before the end of the tunnel disappeared from sight was the boulder crashing into the wall at the end of the corridor, effectively blocking the pit's exit.

But then, they had all made the jump. They were supposed to all make the jump. Seto not making it had, most likely, been a mistake. And there was no way on the Earth that they could've survived a fall like that…

"Mokuba." Yugi smiled, but his eyes were worried and downcast. "Listen. If anyone's going to survive that fall, it's those two. There's hope for them yet. But right now we need you to focus because I honestly believe that we are really going to need your help…"

Mokuba paused a minute, then nodded. Yugi was right. There was hope for them yet. Pushing his doubts to one side, he stood up to examine their situation. Not that there was much he could do right now, given as they were being taken to somewhere and there was roughly 15 seconds before they reached their destination.

"I guess we go for a ride." He said. "Brace yourselves, because, as Anna would say: 'The end is nigh'."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A moment later, the metal shuddered to a halt, and they could all breathe again. For a second. Then, suddenly, their platform turned sideways, vertical, and they all fell off, into a pit of their own.

It was not a long drop, perhaps only a metre or two. But it still hurt when they landed. And, as they soon discovered, there was no way to climb up the steep sides.

Slowly, Mokuba became aware of a slight hissing sound, and slight flashes of blue light, and then a clang.

Light.

Hiss.

Clang.

Light.

Hiss.

Clang.

He turned and saw that the hole was, in fact, quite wide in diameter, and that they were only standing in half of it. The half way line seemed to be blocked by more lasers. But these were different to any others he had seen. They were blue, for one thing. Plus, they were being shot out in what could only be described as blobs, like the fireballs Mokuba remembered being in the castles on particularly the NES _Super Mario _games. These blue balls of deadly light, leaving the air hissing behind them, were flying across the hole to where they hit a dull, rusted piece of metal that vibrated and clanged against the earthen walls of this hole.

"Why put lasers in a hole in the dirt…?" Ryou wondered.

"I'll bet it's protecting an exit on the other side." Mokuba said definitely. "So, as long as we time it right, these things-" He pointed at another blue laser-blob that was shooting past them. "Should be reasonably easy to get past."

He edged close to the machine that was spitting the laser-blobs out. As soon as it let one go, he dived through, clearing it just as another followed the others.

Light, hiss, clang.

Jenna was through.

Light, hiss, clang.

Yugi joined them.

Light, hiss, clang.

Ryou began to step through. Unfortunately, no-one had noticed that the bottle of water Ryou still had in his pocket had been leaking. As a result, the dirt floor, as the pit had literally, like the tunnel, just been dug out of the earth, was very muddy. Hence, Ryou missed his footing, and, still gamely clutching his guitar, slipped over, and ended up sitting right in the path of the laser, with no time to move. It was all he could do to protect himself.

Light, hiss, swoop, crumble.

Ryou opened his eyes, not daring to move.

Light, hiss, swoop, crumble.

It seemed that the laser-blobs, amazingly, were reflecting off the tuning keys at the top of his guitar, sending them into a wall which it was eroding. Ryou kept very still. The slightest movement could change his fortune.

Light…

Ryou braced himself.

Hiss…

The timing had to be perfect.

Swoop…

The second the laser-blob had reflected, Ryou rolled out of the path to safety, thanking God that he had been so lucky.

Crumble.

Mokuba watched, as, with each laser burst, more of the wall crumbled. If his assumptions were to be believed, this pit ran directly parallel, for all of it's short length, to the one that Seto and Anna had gone into. Which gave him a brilliant plan.

"Ryou." He said, heading over to the machine. "Give me your screwdriver, and, everyone, I need anything reflective."

The three older people looked at each other in concern, but then hurried to comply. After all, he _was _a Kaiba.

Besides, after all that hassle, there wasn't an exit on this side of the hole after all. So maybe they'd have to make one.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Once, a long time ago, it had been said about Seto that 'Nobody could survive a fall like that', right after he had apparently leapt off a cliff but in actual fact had hidden in an alcove half-way. Well, they were wrong on that occasion and Mokuba was wrong on this one. You see, the hole was deep. Very, very, deep.

But they had not fallen all the way down.

About quarter of the way down the long, thin hole, just below where the light reached, there was a net. And it was on this net that they had landed.

"Great." Azreal groaned, slightly afraid. They had already established that there was no way up, especially as there was now a boulder blocking both the dim light and the exit. "I'm claustrophobic and I'm stuck in a thin, dark hole below ground!"

"At least you're not on your own." Seto pointed out. "Stop pacing around a sit down."

Azreal sank down next to him, but, for the moment, was distracted from what was, in effect, a manifestation of her nightmares. Which had been the desired effect, though of course Seto would never admit that.

"Meh…" She grinned mischievously, though Seto couldn't see it. "I can think of a few people I'd rather be stuck down here with…" She leant against him, and, as Seto instantly stiffened, laughed at him. "Relax." She said. "You're so tense… I mean, if you were any stiffer I could use you as a surfboard."

"You can hardly talk about being tense." Seto replied, referring to the fear-induced tension. Azreal laughed nervously, and they both relaxed, still wrapped around each other.

"So." Seto added a moment later. "How many?"

"How many what?" Azreal asked.

"How many people can you think of that you'd rather be down here with?" Seto explained.

Azreal considered, then, eventually, "Three."

"Oh really? And who, might I ask, are they?"

"Well, for one thing, your brother." Azreal replied, smiling. "No offence Seto, but he's been a lot more help then you in this whole fiasco…"

Seto grunted grudging agreement. "And the second?"

"Our Mr Bling-man." Azreal's smile widened as she imagined Seto's expression. She loved getting under his skin.

"What!" Seto demanded.

"Well, he's bound to know a way outta here…" She said lightly.

Seto mumbled angrily to the extent that Bling-man was an imbecile.

"Heh." Azreal pocked him gently. "You're just jealous."

"Of what?" Seto asked tolerantly.

"Because your house doesn't do the funky _Transformers _thingy." Azreal teased.

"No, because it's idiotic." Seto sniffed. "And the third person?"

"Indiana Jones." Azreal said, as though it were obvious. "Duh."

"You'd take a fictional character over a real person?" Seto asked indignantly.

"Not usually, but he's _Indiana Jones_!" Azreal said, indicating that this made all the difference. "He'd find a way out of here for sure. Besides, young Harrison Ford. He's cute."

"So you're saying that I need a whip and a funny hat to get you to like me." Seto rolled his eyes.

"Yep." Azreal replied, closing her eyes. It would seem strange to most people, enjoying a moment together while they were stuck down a damp, dark, hole. But they weren't most people. It was so rare that they had nothing to do but relax, so rare that they had any time together. It was nice just to sit and talk…

"I bet I know one thing I can do better then any of them…" Seto began.

"And what's that?" Azreal asked, but she knew the answer. He was going to kiss her. She smiled. It was so rare that Seto was in a mood like this, they had to make the most of it…

Seto leaned down.

And then Mokuba blew up the wall above their heads.

"Are you coming or what?" He asked Seto cheerily, who sat there, stunned, as he watched Azreal being pulled out the hole away from him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Another chapter over. And, at last, we are nearing completion. Dragonlady222, you were right in saying Az would get it right! Pity it just released a boulder though... _(Sweatdrop) _Till next week!


	17. Off to see the Wizard

A/N: Another week, another chapter. And we are nearing completion! I reckon this fic will be 20-21 chapters long, depending on how much padding I shove in. Although, that could change, seeing as the original estimate was 10-11. Oh well. All the more fun, no? This chapter is a bit… chunky. It's a reasonable length, but it seems… rushed. Okay, I know that makes no sense, but… just read, you'll see what I mean. People tell me I'm a perfectionist with my fics, but I do think this chapter isn't very well written. There. You have been fairly warned.

Review Responses:

Erosgirl: Heh. You seem to like everything. One review, and I have you down as an optimist. Lovely!

Dragonlady222: _(Sigh of relief) _I'm glad you weren't mad at me... I tend to say things and then half an hour later realise I shouldn't have done. Oops. I did have a lot of fun, even though I had to facebothof my worstfears AT ONCE! (Ladders, and small spaces. As in, the best view of the Island was on top of this big observation tower, and I love views from up high. Unfortunatly, the only way up was on a rusted ladder in a small tunnel... _(Shudder)_) Anyhoo, thanks for saying I'm good at writing! It makes me feel very happy! (And therfore hyper and scaring people) Unfortunatly, this chapter is, I think, below standard...

Disclaimer: See just about any other fic on this site. Duh.

Seventeen: Off to see the Wizard

Light, hiss, clang.

Light, hiss, clang.

Every time it clanged, it disrupted his thinking.

Light…

The walls were obviously soft-

Hiss…

Otherwise they wouldn't have crumbled.

Clang!

Mokuba shook his head. So if they were soft-

Clang!

He growled in frustration, and ran over to the edge of the metal plate, grabbing it to pull it off. As you may have guessed, and as Mokuba may have guessed if he'd been thinking rationally, it was very hot. Cursing, he pulled his hands away- a good thing, because just then an electric charge spread across the metal like ripples in a pond. Ripples that would have surely killed him.

He had got by on luck, again. He couldn't afford to assume it would work for him again. Pushing his instinct just to punch the walls down to one side, he closed his eyes, and shut off the rest of the world, including the slightly worried adults and the annoying clanging.

He had had a plan, but the clangs had pushed it out his brain. He leant back on the machine behind him, the coolness of the metal soothing his sore hands. He knew what he had to do, sorta. And he'd take it one mental step at a time.

First, he had to work out the exact points where the tunnels overlapped, only a thin wall between them. The walls would crumble easily, but with a thick wall, it would take hours. However, down in the depths of darkness, and with not even his roughly scrawled sand-plan to help, it would be incredibly difficult to calculate where they entwined. Impossible.

Clang!

Mokuba screwed his eyes shut tighter. He couldn't lose focus now! He'd also have to be careful- if too much of the walls collapsed, it would be disastrous for both tunnels, if the other two weren't already gone…

Clang!- The metal insisted.

What was he doing, trying to rescue a dead guy anyway? He needed to focus on them, and how they could escape. But again, he needed to work out the precise spot-

Clang!

Mokuba growled. What was with that Metal plate! It's not like the wall needed protecting! Unless…

Clang!

That part of the wall couldn't crumble.

Clang!

Maybe the whole hole would collapse if it did.

Clang!

But in a building like this? Everything else was industrialised. The hole would either had additional support, or wasn't important.

Clang!

But then why protect the wall?

Clang!

Because someone didn't want him to get through it.

Light-

Which meant that that was the 'sweet spot'!

Hiss-

And if he wasn't supposed to get through it… It was either an exit or…

His brother and Anna were still _supposed _to be alive!

Clang.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They had done as Mokuba had said. A small pile of shiny objects lay next to their feet. Mokuba had Ryou's screwdriver, and was now standing motionless, eyes closed, next to the beast of wires and electronics that was firing the laser-blobs.

He was either deep in thought or upset- either way it was probably best not to disturb him. They were all quite worried, especially given the bizarre little interlude with the metal plate bolted to the wall.

"Poor kid…" Jenna sighed. "On top of the day he's just had, his brother's dead and now he's stuck in a hole. It must be hell, and there's no way we can even try to understand…"

Ryou remained silent. If anyone understood what it was like to lose a sibling, it was him.

"Alright!" Mokuba yelled suddenly, clapping his hands and scaring them all. "I'm ready! Let's go!"

"Go where?" Yugi blinked.

"Not literally!" Mokuba laughed, surprisingly cheerful for someone who had just lost the two people that passed for his family. "But since you asked- to save Seto!"

Yugi and Jenna exchanged worried glances. Mokuba's brother was dead, no matter what they'd said to reassure him earlier. Ryou stared at the floor.

"All we have to do is take that metal panel off and…" Mokuba trailed off, seeing by the looks on their faces that they did not exactly share his enthusiasm. "You don't believe me that he's alive, do you? Well, he is, and, if I'm right, he's right through this wall!" They continued to look doubtful, but, shrugging in disappointment, Mokuba turned back to the Metal panel. "Whatever. I already turned the machine off, and the charge will have gone by now." Indeed, there had been no laser-blobs for quite a while, and now the only buzzing came from the tampered with machine. "So I'll unscrew this panel, and this time _I'll_ save my brother…" He caught hold of one of the bolts in determination. They were large, and rusted shut. Grunting slightly, he pulled and twisted and struggled, as the others looked on.

Suddenly, a large creaking, scraping sound issued from the metal which Mokuba was sure didn't come from him. He turned and saw Ryou on the left hand side of the plate, struggling with a bolt himself. He glanced up, and met Mokuba's eye briefly before turning back to his work.

"I never saved my sister." He said gruffly. "And, so help me, I _will_ help someone's sibling today!"

Mokuba nodded, and, with new determination, quickly pulled his bolt out, moving upwards to the next. By now Ryou's task had been taken over by Jenna, as he went to the final screw higher up.

"I would help…" Yugi laughed sheepishly. "But you already did the bottom ones and I'd never reach the top!"

"Can you go over to that machine?" Mokuba asked. Yugi did so.

"What am I looking for?" He asked.

"Well, you see the part that used to spit out lasers?"

"Yes…" Yugi said, suddenly becoming concerned with his safety.

"See how it's clogged with dirt?"

Yugi swallowed. "Yes…"  
"Well, if it's about to explode, a head's up would be nice…" Mokuba laughed a little. No high technology just yet- good ole dirt would be fine for now. Then the laugh was stilled by a grunt of frustration. They had nearly got the metal off- just his screw was remaining stubbornly in place, no matter how much he scratched and peeled his previously burnt hands.

"This_ is_ the head's up!" Yugi yelled. "Get out the way!"

Mokuba bit his lip. This blast would be huge. And if they didn't get this plate off in time, they'd have to wait for the charge to dissipate, for the heat to fade, and for the laser to build up behind the soil. It could take ages, and the mechanism would most likely malfunction if they tried it again. It was one-shot only.

"Mokuba!" Yugi insisted. Ryou and Jenna had already got out of the way, just Mokuba was left.

"Just a second! I just need a little more time!"

"There _is_ no time!" Yugi said in frustration, doing the only thing he could think of- shoving more dirt in.

By now the white-haired Brit was pulling on the bolt to, and there was only a few more degrees to go…

"Get out of there!" Jenna screamed, just as the metal fell away.

"Hit the deck!" Ryou yelled, dragging Mokuba down with him, the metal plate beneath them.

The light was blinding, the heat colossal.

But it sure got rid of the wall.

"Never, ever, do that again!" Ryou shouted, as he stood up, giving up on brushing off the debris that was still falling all around. Most of it seemed to have blown inwards though, into what was revealed to be another tunnel.

"I agree whole heartedly…" Yugi groaned, scrambling up from his own trip to the floor. He made a mental note of not to stand in front of things that were about to explode again.

Mokuba, however, was not listening. He peered into the hole that he had created, and, to his relief and delight, Seto and Anna were sitting on a net less then a metre below, a pit stretching endlessly below them.

"Told ya!" He grinned, as the two travellers joined Yugi in helping Anna out of the hole.

Are you coming or what?" He asked Seto cheerily, extending an arm. Seto seemed to be watching the most recent developments in surprise. But maybe that was just because the wall above his head had just imploded for no real reason.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

To his credit, Seto recovered quickly once he was out of the hole, but he still seemed a little miffed for some unknown reason. He glanced around, and then ducked, as what appeared to be a blob made out of blue lasers made a beeline for his head.

"Heh, sorry." Mokuba shrugged, pulling him out of the line of fire. "Should've warned you about that one… I didn't think it would still work…"

Seto took a proper look around the hole. The machine spewing out the strange blue things was crackling, and sending out sparks. It's firing was irrational, and, it seemed to be, oddly, half melted. Dust was swirling all around, still settling. Smoke was issuing from the edges of the jagged hole in the wall that they'd just climbed through.

"You blew up the wall." Seto shook his head. "You never were one for tact…"

Mokuba shrugged. "It worked! Plus the tunnel didn't collapse, which-" he smiled proudly. "Means I hit the 'Sweet Spot'. Not to high or low. Dude, I rock! I can't believe that actually worked! But it did! It worked!"

"So did the A-bomb. Something working isn't always a good thing…" Azreal pointed out, glancing at Seto with a shine of amusement in her eyes.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Great. Well, we've been rescued from one hole into another one." Anna said, turning to Mokuba. "So, how now, Mr oh-so-tactless Wolf?"

"Well, the general plan was to turn it round…" Mokuba said.

"In other words…" Jenna said indcredously. "Now you want to go for the other side?"

"In a nutshell." Mokuba said, sorting through the two or three shiny items the others had scrounged out of pockets. It was mainly coins and keys, even a pair of metal sunglasses and…

A mobile phone, with a metallic cover clipped on.

"Okay!" Mokuba demanded, picking it up. "Who had a mobile phone all this time!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"You turn left!"

"No, you turn right!"

"I'm _certain_ it's left!"

"You were certain last time and we ended up lost!"

"It doesn't matter anyway- you're both wrong. It's straight on!"

"No way, man! It's right!"

"Tristan, take a left!"

"Look, I had to drive down here to find you! I know where I'm going!"

"If you did, you would've turned left…"

"Téa, he has to turn _right…_"

"No, _Joey_, it's left…!"

"Straight ahead, I tell you!"

Serenity sank lower in her seat. Next time they stopped at traffic lights, she was jumping out the window. Except…

"Aww, man!"

"Road works!"

"That queue goes on for miles…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Eheheh…" Jenna laughed nervously as everyone glared daggers at her. "See, the thing is, the battery's flat…"

There was a collective sigh and sweatdrop.

"Besides!" Jenna added hurriedly. "It's on BT- British Telecom- there's no service over here!"

"Why," Seto asked dryly. "Did you have a phone on a British company when you were travelling the planet?"

"Because it services in the Commonwealth, Europe, and America! How was I supposed to know it didn't do Asia?"

"Well, you should find out that kind of thing, really, Jenn…" Ryou groaned.

"I don't know…" Mokuba tried, wondering if Jenna could be spared from his brother's wrath. "It might help now…"

"Too small." Seto dismissed instantly. He knew what Mokuba was planning already, and so was in action-mode. "So is all this other stuff. We need something bigger…"

Mokuba glanced at the metal plate, still discarded on the floor. Seto followed his gaze.

"It would have to be reflective…" He said, making it sound almost like a question, wondering if Mokuba had realised something he hadn't.

Mokuba shook his head, hair whipping his face as he did so. "I know. Pity. It would've been perfect."

"For heaven's sake." Azreal rolled her eyes, grabbing the panel. "Just flip it over! Geez."

Sure enough, on the underside, the metal still retained it's original shine. Pressed up to the wall, it had become damp, but oxygen had not been able to get to it- no rust had formed anywhere but around the very edges. Okay, so there was a bit of dirt and grime, but between the six of them, it was easy to get off.

"Alright, this bit's going to take precision. Hey, you were right, Ann, it is shiny beneath all that dirt." Mokuba commented, as they leant back to admire their work. "Anyway, no offence to anyone, but it'll only take two people and I think Seto and I are our best bet…"

The others hastily said that if Seto and Mokuba wanted to save them then… full steam ahead.

Between them, the brothers hefted the piece of metal up slightly, holding it on a tilt. They talked briefly, saying things that the others could not hear, occasionally altering the angle of the metal or the tilt of the slope. Finally, they nodded and manovered carefully into place, dropping the metal at an angle on the ground, diving out the way before they were hit by lasers. Then, they moved over to the machine, and began work.

It must have been worrying to the other four as the brothers worked silently, pulling various wires and equipment out, and generally tinkering. The seconds trickled away, and just as Azreal and Jenna began the finals of the Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament, (A/N: If I'm correct, you may know it as Paper, Scissors, Stone. Oh well. Same difference.) Mokuba announced that they were done, hurrying over to the metal. There was no danger now, the lasers were off. For the time being.

Carefully, he and Seto lifted the metal to create a slope.

"Here?" He asked. "Down a bit."

"Just a little." Seto agreed, guiding the metal down a tiny fraction. "It's on a time release… Five…Four…"

The others wondered vaguely weather a countdown was worth worrying about.

"Three…Two…"

Mokuba tensed. He could _not_ drop this sheet of metal.

"One…Now!"

They moved in perfect sync, lifting the metal off the ground whilst keeping it at the same angle- far easier said then done. This time, the clang was deafening and the laser-blob spewed out even larger as it reflected off the metal, nearly causing the Kaiba's to drop it and ruin everything.

But they didn't.

And it sure got rid of the wall.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was another hole, but this one had metal walls and sides. There was no way they could blow their way out of this one.

Besides, the machine was totalled now.

Seto sat down calmly on the floor.

"What," Azreal asked "Exactly, are you doing?"

"Sitting down." Seto said, matter-of-factly.

"Ah. Why?"

"Because there's nothing else to do." Seto sighed. "Look around. This floor is on pistons. It'll move either up or down. So I'm not going to do anything else. If this was a test, we've passed. And so, if he's going to have a house that's seems to be from an Ikea Flat-pack, then he can bring us to him."

Suddenly, there was a hiss of static, and then, an unseen voice, as though from the heavens, echoed around the hole.

"Yes, yes, I'm impressed…" It said, sounding almost happy. "You're perfectly right, Seto, now I'm _convinced _that it wasn't just fluke before!"

"Before…?" Azreal whispered to him. Seto glanced at her, shrugged, and turned away.

"And you seem to really know my game!" The voice completed cheerily, then suddenly became much more menacing. "So, perhaps it's time we decided the victor!"

Suddenly, there was a clunk and a wobble from below the floor as it whirred into action, moving quickly up the sink hole, the wall lights flashing past the only indication of how fast they were moving. Seto was glad of his position as the others toppled over around him.

"Where are we going?" Mokuba asked, shielding his eyes against the speed induced wind.

"Isn't it obvious?" Azreal laughed. "We're off to see the Wizard!"

"That's it…" Seto muttered. "I'm cancelling our subscription to Film Four, sorry, Mokuba…"

The group of six continued up and up. Ready or not, they were going.

Or, perhaps, they were coming.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: See? The end is near! Yes, cheer if you want to…


	18. Talk the Talk

A/N: Wow! This fic is now C2'd! Thanks to whoever decided to include it! And thank you to whoever FINALLY gave us hit counters without PayPal!

Ahem.

In other news, I nearly didn't get this chapter done in time! In fact, I've only just written it this morning! And it took me almost three hours! Phew… But that's what you get when you re-write every sentence at least 3 times… whatever. Oh, also, it's almost the summer holidays! Whooooooo! IMM _will _be done by then, so prepare to see the sequel to Amusing for Inspiration very soon! And I can now reveal that the Title will be… _(Drumroll) _Wherever You Go! Tada!

And no-one cares. Let's move onto the Reviews…

Review Responses:

Dragonlady222: Sometimes we all hafta do things that scare us, I guess... Well anyway, next weekend is this weekend, and this weekend is last weekend so that means another chapter is HERE! Which you know, because you're reading it. Um... yeah.

Lily of the Shadow: Heh. Fluke all the way:DExcept for this chapter, maybe... I mean, I TOTALLY knew what Bling-man had against them before I wrote this chapter this morning... Amazing. Actually, this was the original plan for the entire fic as it wasscribbled down in a notebook: 'Mokuba is fifteen and annoyed, Seto gets kidnapped! Oh no!' along with a shocked face... Can you believe, originally it was going to just be a one-shot...?

Erosgirl: Yay perfectionists! But the thing about Ryou's sister. There seems to be a variety of ideas, but, from what I can gather, Ryou had a sister named Amane who somehow, at some point, died. I have no idea how, so... Poetic lisence? Although I would be really grateful if anyone could tell me ANYTHING about it. And the Kaiba's parents to. I mean, the American dub is probably bad enough, but the English version is just ABYSMAL... _(Deterioates into angry mutters)_

Disclaimer: I own NOWT! INCLUDING THE SONGS! BUT I OWN (TWO OF) THE PEOPLE SINGING THEM! THAT'S ALMOST THREE! JUST TRY AND STOP ME! MWHAHAHAHAHAHA! (Has survived on Smarties for last 3 hours)

Eighteen: Talk the Talk

They had been going up for hours. Or even minutes. There was no way to tell. They had to be above ground level by now, surely it can't have been that deep! They had to be going up to a top level of the building or something.

But then, there was no way of telling how far below ground they'd been before. The dome had been above ground, yes, but then the whole building had re-arranged. They could tell nothing.

It was a time of very low morale. They were all slumped down on the panel, waiting as they moved endlessly up and up, never stopping, never slowing, never nearing the end. And never saying a word.

Mokuba happened to be sitting oppisite Jenna, and he was noticing a distinct pattern in her behaviour. She'd stare at the floor, glance worriedly at Ryou, and bite her lip before looking at the ground again. And then more worry…

But Mokuba could understand why. Ryou was looking blankly at something that wasn't there, seeing something beyond their current situation. And it didn't look like it was a happy something.

Mokuba moved cautiously over to him, and shook him.

"Yo, Ryou, scaring me here…!" He said, falsely cheerful. Ryou jumped a little, and flashed a smile that lingered for less then a second.

"Sorry." He sighed. "I was just thinking…"

"About your sister?" Yugi asked quietly. Ryou glanced up sharply in surprise.

"You mentioned that you couldn't save her…" Yugi said, averting his gaze.

"Yes." Ryou nodded, turning away to. But Mokuba could still see a sad smile on his face. "Her name was Amane. She was a lovely girl. So cute…" He smiled. "And a lot more social then I could ever be. But then she died. Just died one day. There was no reason for it, it shouldn't have happened, but there was nothing anyone could do… And I couldn't do anything either."

"You loved her." Azreal piped up from the other side, sitting with Seto. "Sometimes that's enough. I mean, everyone hated me when I was growing up. But not my family. They didn't give up on me. They didn't understand me, but they loved me anyway. I was miserable a lot of the time, and they weren't the best family ever, but they loved me… and now I guess I can love to." She fell silent, rubbing the back of her neck, not used to talking so personally to just anyone.

"Well, sometimes it isn't enough." Jenna said blandly. "My family claimed to love me, but that doesn't change the fact that when I was sixteen they got put in prison for neglect and the 'vegetables' they grew in the back garden. And they're still there. I just thank goodness I'd already moved out when I went to college. I would never have survived being put in care…"

Azreal felt a ripple of tension run through Seto, who was sitting next to her. But he said nothing.

Azreal gave a grim smile. "I guess we've all had a pretty messed up childhood." She said sadly. And not just the stuff they'd talked about. Seto, Yugi and Ryou had all had traumas that they didn't care to bring up. Most likely Jenna's past wasn't as simple as she'd put it. And neither was Azreal's.

"Well, I haven't!" Mokuba cried, standing up. "I may not remember our parents, but what I do remember is that no matter what, we've got through the bad times and we're all still here! So what does it matter what happened in the past? I'm happy _now_! And so I'll enjoy it while I can!" He smiled. "I've had a great time recently! I still remember the first time I saw you, Ann, on the stairs. You sure turned everything upside down! But maybe it's better that way… I don't care what anyone else says, I've had a awesome childhood!"

For a moment, there was silence. Then Azreal burst out laughing.

"He's right, you know!" She giggled. "Geez, these bouts of self-pity are becoming scarily frequent…"

"Too true." Ryou agreed. "He's messing with our heads. Hoping we'll get depressed on this ride. And I guess I did… Sorry everyone…"

"There you go again!" Mokuba reprimanded. "Will you guys just cheer up? You're alive, aren't you!"

"Ah. So, you live to the 'Pope gets high', lifestyle, Mokuba?" Az grinned.

"Huh?"

"You know…" Azreal prompted. He didn't. Sighing, she continued. "Fine." She sang a little. "I hope I'm _old_ before I die! I hope I live to see the day the Pope gets high…"

"I haven't heard that song in a while…" Ryou grinned wickedly. "Not as good as that other one of course…"

"I'll sing it if you will." Azreal smirked.

"Alright." Ryou agreed, surprising them all. "But Jenna has to join in to. She knows this song…"

"Okie dokie." Azreal shrugged, and the two began, Jenna joining in when she recognised the song.

"Oh, it seems forever starts today, all the lonely hearts in London caught a plane and flew away, and all the best women are married, all the handsome men are gay, you fell deprived... Yeah, are you questioning your size? Is there a tumour in your humour, are there bags under your eyes? And do you leave dents where you sit? Are you getting on a bit…?"

Yugi laughed at the strange lyrics, and Seto shook his head at the slightly-less-then tuneful singing on the parts of three certain people. But Mokuba smiled. Thanks to him, (No need to be modest in his thoughts) the mood had been salvaged. From depressed to singing slightly bizarre songs learnt long ago in G&T class in one paragraph. Not bad.

He'd been in some strange situations before, but it had to be said that this one took the biscuit. He was sitting on a metal platform that was moving upwards, possibly towards his doom, with five other people- four of whom seemed to have teamed up to sing a song that seemed to be about a hobbit…

"…They just like to eat and be left alone! But one day Bilbo was asked to go on a big adventure to the caves below, to help some dwarves get back their gold that was stolen by a Dragon in the days of old! Bilbo, Bilbo, Bilbo Baggins…!"

Yeah.

He may be happy with his life, but there was no way it could be called normal…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I guess this our stop." Azreal shrugged as the platform finally juddered to a stop. It wasn't much of a view. Just a circular wall to fit around the metal floor and a _Star Wars_-esq. door on one side.

"Then let's go." Mokuba swallowed, closest to the door. He lead the way over to it, wondering how it would open, but before he could even lay finger to it, the strange door had whooshed open, various interlocking shapes swirling into the frame work of the round door.

"Well, don't just stand in the doorway!" Bling-man's voice echoed into the small room. "Come in, come in… I've been expecting you…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"At last!" Tristan sighed as they finally, after two hours, got back into moving traffic again. "I think we're about half way to Domino…"

Joey gave a growl of frustration. "Hmmph. The heroes in comic books never get caught in traffic…"

"No," Téa agreed. "But then, this isn't exactly the Batmobile…"

"What are you saying?" Tristan asked. "If my car isn't good enough, you can walk!"

"I didn't say that!" Téa shot back, temper flaring unusually quickly.

"Then what _did _you say?" Tristan yelled. "'Cause that's sure what it sounded like!"

"She didn't mean it like that!" Joey defended Téa. "She was just saying that-"

"That my car is rubbish! I heard!"

"That wasn't what I meant!"

"Then what _did _you mean?"

Serenity slapped hands over her ears. She was going _insane…_

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"There you are!" The man twittered as they walked into a very strange room. It was just like a traditional, old fashioned room. Flowery wall paper, a brown carpet, red rug, a small table with tea on it, bookcases and even a fire burning merrily in the hearth. There was a different item in every available spot, like an old junk shop. None of this stuff could have any sentimental value, but it was there anyway, like a very old room belonging to an old gentleman who couldn't let go of the past.

But it was different. All these features were pushed to the very edges of the large room- the largest one yet- and so a large open space was left in the middle of the room while all the thousands of old tat crammed and squashed into edges and corners. The carpet had paled in this spot from the extra light forcing it's way through the dusty windows, and the colour was fading.

"What is this…?" Jenna asked. The room was large enough to allow her voice to echo, but the variety and amount of clutter made the sound disjointed, as though there were a dozen Jenna-ghosts, arguing it out.

"This?" Bling-man asked, appearing from the tall armchair. "This is my room. And your grave."

"No way!" Yugi yelled. "You won't get away with this! What do you want from us anyway!"

"From you?" Bling-man blinked. "Nothing. You were a little… unexpected. So you'll have to die, I'm afraid. It's your own fault, you know, pocking into other's business…"

"Then what do you want from me and my brother!" Mokuba demanded.

"My, my… How rude are teens today?" He sighed. "But to answer your question, young man, it's actually quite a story. Perhaps your brother will tell you sometime…"

They all looked expectantly at Seto.

"Who are you?" Seto demanded. "And what do you have against me?"

The falsely cheerful, polite smile gave way to a scowl. "Perhaps you'd remember me better if I told you my name was Jack Selbek…"

"I'm afraid not." Seto smirked. "Though, if you _will _sign your name on the bottom of threatening E-mails…"

"Then you should know who I am!" Selbek insisted, voice showing he was nearly giving into rage.

"I know some things." Seto shrugged indifferently. "I do my research."

"Then tell us what you know." Selbek ground out.

"You love films." Seto recited quietly, steepling his fingers. "Ever since you were a kid. You knew every film worth seeing, and every film that wasn't. You soon got a job with _Empire _filmmagazine, reviewing the new DVD releases for them. You were quickly noticed, and got put up to new films. Then, eventually you became editor."

"And then…?" Selbek asked in a hushed, excited tone as though he had never heard the story before.

"And then you up and left." Seto concluded. "Just announced you were going to leave, no explanation, just promising you'd return with something spectacular. Four years ago, you had the 'grand' opening of your theme park, which would apparently embody in holograms all of the most loved movie scenes, offering people the chance to be in their favourite films. "

"And…" Selbek prompted again, sounding suddenly angry. "And then what! What does this all have to do with _you_, Seto Kaiba!"

"I really have no idea." Seto replied easily. The others couldn't believe it…

"Then let me tell you!" Selbek screamed. "Everything was ready… I'd spent more then ten years in solitude, working on the place, perfecting it… It was going to be a place of dreams. Of course, more erotic film scenes would have been available only on the Black Market, but I would have been rich! And famous! My holograms, my technology, was the best the world would've ever seen! I would've gone down in history! But then, what did you do, the _day_ before I opened! What did you _do_!"

"I really couldn't tell you." Seto replied lazily, as though he was bored of the entire affair. Which, given his brain power, he probably was.

"You announced your tournament!" Selbek screamed. "Your bloody tournament! And suddenly, ten years of work was _ignored_ because of your spur of the moment competition! And what was worse was those disks of yours…" He nodded at the one Mokuba and Ryou were wearing for no real reason. "All that technology… Holograms better then mine, smaller machines then mine, more energy efficient then mine…!"

"Oops." Seto shrugged.

"Seto!" Azreal hissed, elbowing him. "Need I remind you that you and Mokuba are the only ones here who _aren't _going to be killed! Behave, for heaven's sake…!"

"Okay, I apologise." Seto sighed. "But I sold my disks off ages ago. What do you want me to do about it now?"

"Exactly!" Selbek howled. "I spent a year trying to figure out how you did it, determined to beat you, to better you- I was obsessed! I barely slept! And then you just casually sold the technology off to a company that completely _massacred _it!" He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "I've been trying to make my park bigger and better since. But I could never out do you… There comes a time in every man's life when he realises he has to give up. _You _have the technology! And if I have _you…_" He paused, seemingly for effect, before continuing in a wistful, dreamy voice. "And now _robots _to! My park can be better then I ever dreamed!" Then his voice clouded. "They ignored me. All over the world, I was _ignored_! But they were fools… And they won't ignore me when my army of robots- robots you are going to build for me, Kaiba- help me overlord their countries!"

Jenna blinked, then cheered. "Ha! I told you, Kaiba! I totally told you! Robot Army!"

"Not now…" Seto ground out. This was ridiculous. "And just what, exactly, makes you think that I'm going to help you, Selbek?"

"Why, because I have your beloved brother, of course!" Selbek, aka. Bling man laughed.

"You don't have anything!" Mokuba insisted. "Not yet, anyway. Because you've been playing with us the whole time, so you'll end it with a game now!"

"Right you are, young Mokuba." Selbek commended, sounding pleased that someone had twigged. "I wanted to check you were who I thought you were, and worth my time. Well, it would seem you are. All together, at least. So, it would seem that the only way to settle this would be one-on-one…"

They regarded him in horror.

"Yes, I can see you are not really ready for combat." Selbek laughed. "And to be perfectly honest, neither am I. But I did my research to, and the most logical option seemed to be to pick up this… 'Duel Monsters'… game of yours." He pulled out a deck out of a pocket. "Incredibly hard to hold of any of the original cards… these are mainly the new, fan ones. But new cards means a whole new way to play, no? So, as they said all that time ago, let's Duel!"

"And what makes you think we won't just walk out of here right now?" Seto growled.

"Because your pride would not allow it." Selbek said. "I know how you work… That's how all arguments were settled in those days. And the loser will always honour their loss. So if I win, you help me, and the others die. And if you win," He added hastily. "I will, of course, let you all go."

"Fine." Seto scowled, locating his almost forgotten deck, still in his pocket from force of habit. "Then let's get on with it."

"Wait." Mokuba said quietly. "Errm… Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Seto looked at him questioningly. "I _was_… and Yugi was… The champion players, you know."

"I know, I know!" Mokuba agreed hastily. "It's just that… well…"

"Well what?" Seto said warningly.

"I mean, no offence…" Mokuba said cautiously, uncomfortably. "It's just that you and Yugi… well, 'kick it old school'. Let me handle this, yeah?"

"…Is he calling us old fashioned?" Yugi asked Kaiba indcredously.

Seto shook his head, not knowing. He was still trying to discern the phrase 'Kick it old school'…

Selbek laughed. "You know, I like you kid!" He cried. "Well, then, come on if you're coming!"

Mokuba calmly clipped his own deck into the Disk, getting a happy buzz of anticipation as the life point counter whirled up to 8000. He had only used a disk once or twice before, and it always made the game much more fun…

'Bing-Man' went over to one of the many cluttered shelves, pulling from it a Disk that Mokuba hadn't noticed before, knocking many other items off as he did so.

He and Mokuba squared off at oppisite ends of the clear patch of carpet, regarding each other.

"Well then…" Selbek said slowly. "I already know you talk the talk… Let's see if you can walk the walk, shall we? Let the Game begin!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: Huzzah! Nearly time for some Duelling Action… But don't get your hopes up… I'm not one of these people who can actually _write _Duels… But I'll try my best. The two songs, by the way, were Supreme, by Robbie Williams and The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins by Lehard Nimoy (Sp?), aka. Spock. Okay? Everything fine and Dandy? Good. Now I'm going to go and get lunch… Till next week!


	19. Walk the Walk

A/N: Wow, this one is a loooooooooong one! And it's updated earlier then expected! Okay, so the night before isn't that much earlier, but… I'm out shopping tomorrow, and I have two projects and an Essay to do, and I want to watch some of Live 8, so…

Confessions time. Okay, so I DID write like, seven pages of a blow-by-blow account of the duel, but it was really boring. Really, really boring. So I deleted it all in a fit of artistic fury. _(Sweatdrop) _Instead, we have much less duelling and much more talking. It's probably not as good as it could be, but it's better then it was. I'm not all that happy with the dialogue, to be honest, but… Just see what you think.

Review Responses:

Erosgirl: Well, it seems EVERYBODY loves the 'kicking itold school' convo. I know I did! XD I just needed an excuse for Mokuba to play the duel and... Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Actually, that was come up with in the middle of a shopping centre, much like the rest of the fic. But whatever. It was fun! Leonard Nimoy, hey? Well, whatever. I'm not a Star Wars fan, at all. But the song rocks.

Lily of the Shadow: I love flukes. Winging it, improvising, whatever, will get you through anything! Thanks for the stuff 'bout Amane, btw. I had heard the car crash thing before, but I didn't know his mom was dead to. And I've heard an even wierder story before... Someone swears blind that she was taken away by aliens and Ryou went to rescue her, but Bakura sent her mind to the shadow relm and she died from it. Interesting theory, but somehow, I don't think it's true...

Dreamer of Dragons: I'm loving writing this fic! I shall be sad to see it end in the next two chapters...Sorry, I've tried desperatly to think of something to make this response longer, but I can't. Thanks for reading anyway!

GohanHugger: Another one that liked the whole 'Kick it old school' thing! Wow! AndI'm glad you like Mokuba, because in the anime youdon't seem to have much of a charecterto go on. I wasworried about getting it 'wrong'. But at least I know now that _someone _likes it!

Dragonlady222: Sorry, I can't claim to be much of a Star Treck fan. In fact, I don't like it much at all... The song however, 'The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins', rocks. Put it in on an audio search or something- I love it! Please continue R&Ring, you've been most most constant reviewer yet and I'd hate to lose you for the last three chapters!

Disclaimer: I'm getting really bored of these.

Here's Chapter 19!

Nineteen: Walk the Walk

Mokuba frowned. When he'd been challenged to a duel, that's what he had been expecting. Not this… farce. The cards Selbek was using weren't even real Duel Monsters cards, just some lousy rip-off. The cards were mere shadows of what they once were, almost an insult to the memory of the game that had once practically ruled his world.

Not that Selbek was much better himself. He seemed to barely know what he was doing. Sure, he knew the _new _cards and rules, but in a match against the old greats, he would never had stood a chance. The man had to be seriously delusional if he thought that he could have beaten Seto. It wasn't even a challenge. So far, it had just been one-turn moves; each turn concluded itself with no follow on strategy. All Mokuba had on the field were Alpha and Beta the Magnet Warriors. Gamma was in his hand, waiting to be played, along with a few other cards including Monster Reborn. These monsters were by no means powerful, but Selbek still couldn't get past them!

The only thing reserving Selbek's 6000 life points was a trap card. One that Peguas would never have dreamt of making, saying that only monsters with more then 3000 ATK could attack at all, on the condition that Mokuba got to draw an extra card every time Selbek decided to keep it in play. The card was called Hadrian's Wall, and thus far was the only card Mokuba hadn't been able to connect with a film.

And by far the most irritating thing about Selbek was the way he _loved _the sound of his own voice.

"You know," He said conversationally as he drew a card in order to begin his turn. "You play this game very differently to your brother…"

"Are you keeping the Wall in play or not?" Mokuba demanded, drumming the top of his deck.

"I think I better had." Selbek replied mildly. "Draw your card, so I may continue my turn!"

Mokuba did, quickly suppressing an annoyed growl as _Tip the Balance _came up. A useful card, no doubt, it had seen him through plenty, but it was no use now, and he wanted to take this guy down ASAP.

"As I was saying," Selbek continued. "I've watched all the recordings of your brother playing. I've studied his gaming style very carefully. I was all revved up to be playing him."

"Maybe you should have spent less time studying the way Seto played and more time working out how to play yourself." Mokuba shrugged daringly. "Because you're duelling _me_ now, and it's not my problem if you're ready or not!"

"But it's not just that that makes you different." Selbek persevered. "He's ruthless, isn't he, your brother? He'd do anything. But you…"

Mokuba tried to shut him out, tried to drive what he was saying away from him, but it was no good. He could still hear.

"You wouldn't do that, would you? You're weaker then that."

Mokuba looked at the floor. He wasn't 'weak'. No way.

Or was he?

Selbek smiled to himself. "And you have more morals. More scruples."

"Oh, leave off!" Azreal yelled from the side-lines. "Just get on with your turn!"

"How much do you actually know about what your brother does?" Selbek continued regardless. "How much can you trust him?"

"Mokuba…" Seto growled. "Don't listen to him." But his brother did not answer, looking at the floor.

"Now you're getting it." Selbek smiled. "You can't. You came all this way to save him, but do you really know what you're saving? You can't be so blind that you haven't seen how ruthless he is. Can you really believe that he didn't announce his tournament on that day purposely, just to beat me to it? Are you so stubborn, so blind that you can't see what's right in front of you? On the other hand, are you so weak that you won't stand by your beliefs?"

"Say something!" Azreal hissed at Seto, but he shook his head.

"No. Mokuba has to figure this one out on his own…"

The teen in question was still looking at the floor, but now licked his lips, preparing to answer.

"I…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

_Somewhere in Las Vegas:-_

Duke smirked, only his dignity suppressing a full-out snort.

He'd found it at last.

What he'd been turning his various houses and offices upside down looking for.

There was no way he would have lost it. He _couldn't _have, it was one of his most treasured possessions.

And now, at last, here it was.

The Photograph of Joey in a dog suit.

Duke smiled in reminisce. He had been so mean to them all to start off with, and yet it was them who he'd ended up being friends with. It was strange how you became friends with people, really…

The phone rang, interrupting his 'work'. Duke picked it up.

"Yes?" He asked, still glancing at the photo and fighting back a laugh.

"There's two calls for you, sir…" His secretary said. "At the same time…"

"Who?" Duke asked, not really given to conversation.

"One's the Gaming Council. Again." She sounded almost hopeful. Like he might actually talk to them. Then, as she made no response. "The other is someone who just says… ahem… that you 'better talk to me now, because this call is long-distance!'."

"I'd better take that one then." Duke replied easily, swinging his legs up onto the desk. "Tell the Gaming Council that I'm in…" His eyes flicked up to the map of his empire on the wall. "London. How about London this week?"

His secretary gave a sigh of exasperation. "You'll have to face them sometime…"

"But it's more fun to muck then about!" Duke grinned. "And if they're going to try to contact me in London, remind them that England has different Gaming laws and that as they hold no power over there, any attempt to so much as talk to me against my will could be regarded as a racist act. Now, which line is this other person on…?"

"Two." She replied tiredly. As immature as Duke was, he was legally minded. There wasn't anything wrong with his games and Casinos anyway… She patched him through to the mystery caller.

"Talk."

"At last!" Mai's voice echoed, sounding irritated, down the line. "Do you know how much it costs to phone America from France!"

"Mai, hey…" Duke replied. "Oh, I'm not in America, I'm in… 'London'."

She sighed in exasperation. "Are you still mucking about with the Gaming Council? Duke, they want to give you a prize, not shut you down!"

"No, you're wrong." Duke replied lazily. "They _don't _want to give me the prize. They don't like me."

"Is it any surprise?"

Duke laughed. "Not really. But they know I'm the obvious winner… I just want to get under their skin even more!"

"You must be really bored." Mai hit the nail on the head.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Duke conceded. "So, what's the reason for you to blow all your money on a long distance call?"

"I just had to tell someone!" Mai said, suddenly sounding happy and excited again. "Remember I said about that big deal?"

Duke sat up straighter. "You got it?" He asked.

"Yes!" Mai screamed. "I got it!" She had been trying for months to convince an elite clothes label to let her design for them. And now, it seemed, she'd finally managed it. "And do you know what the best part is?"

"What?" Duke asked. "Besides the fact you'll be doing a job you love with a huge amount of money?"

"I can work in Domino!" Mai told him happily. "I'm going home!"

Duke didn't answer for a moment. Then he answered: "You've really changed, you know. You're not so… materialistic anymore."

"Well…" Mai said doggedly. "I know there's more important things. _Slightly _more important." She amended. "Why don't you go back to, Duke? Joey's going back as soon as he has the money, I'm going back… Even Ryou went back to his home. Why don't you?"

"…" Duke considered for a moment. "I can't."

"Don't give me that." Mai sniffed. "You're like, what, the 5th richest person in the world? You could chuck it in now and still have enough money to last the rest of your life."

"Yeah, but what would I do then?" Duke asked. "I'd get too bored. Staying in one place, doing the same thing every day with the same people… I'd be bored out of my skull."

"Even more then you are now?" Mai asked, smiling at the other end.

"Yup." Duke agreed. "Besides, my company is huge. If I shut it down, thousands of people will lose jobs across the world."

There was a silence for a moment, then Mai spoke again.

"You know, you've changed to."

"How so?"

"You've got a heart."

Duke groaned uncomfortably, quickly changing the subject. "So… Why did you phone me?"  
"Because it's slightly cheaper to phone America then it is to phone Japan, and I really wanted to tell someone!" Mai laughed at herself.

"Great. What, do you suddenly not like France?"

"I love it…" Mai said contemplatively. "But it's full of chickens."

"I thought it was full of goats."

"That's what I thought, but there are chickens EVERYWHERE!"

And so, the conversation continued in this fashion, oblivious to the drama unfolding on the other side of the planet.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I…" Mokuba said uncertainly, but then he looked up, conviction back on his face. "I don't know what my brother does all the time, but I still trust him, because I always have, and it's always paid off! And… it doesn't matter how he plays the game, because at least he played with the cards. You try to play with people's minds, don't you Selbek? Well, I'm not so 'weak' that I let my views be swayed by a Batman-wannabe! And one more thing…" He smiled. "Dude, you really suck at this game."

"Well!" Selbek replied. "This is a turn up for the books! You're as stubborn as your brother!"

His words were like water off a duck's back. Mokuba rolled his eyes. "Will you _please _just get on with it?" He asked.

"Why are you so impatient?" Selbek asked, peeved that his tricks didn't work. Ever since this kid got involved, things had slipped further and further out of his control. One of his best workers was dead. There were so many of them! Victory seemed to becoming more and more elusive…

"Why am I impatient?" Mokuba echoed. "I'll tell ya… I'm impatient because as soon as it's my turn, I'll win this game and teach you that if you can't play properly, don't play at all!"

o-o-o-o-o( A/N: I know this is a really bad time to interrupt, but I thought I'd just share this with y'all- This is the ONE HUNDRETH PAGE, _not_ including A/Ns! 100 pages of this fic… woah… Anyhoo, back to Mokie...)-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Defeat me?" Selbek echoed, snorting. "Yeah, right. How are you planning to do 6000 damage in one turn?"

"Why don't you end yours and find out?" Mokuba smirked, sounding creepily like Seto, again.

Selbek stared at him, trying to work out if he was bluffing. Mokuba stared back, equally calm, never flickering.

Selbek laughed. "Nice try. I don't believe you. It's not possible. And just to show you just how sure I am, I'll end my turn without even playing any monsters."

"Clever." Mokuba smiled. "But not as clever as this. Now, it's time for one of the most annoying combos in the game! And it features these two, who you seem to have forgotten about…" He gestured at Alpha and Beta.

Selbek snorted. "I knew it. You'll never defeat me with such weak monsters! Thanks to my Hadrian's Wall, they can't even attack!"

"They're not powerful enough _now_…" Mokuba corrected. "But when I sacrifice them, along with this guy-" He held up Gamma "You'll be surprised how powerful they can get…"

The three Magnet warriors disappeared to the Graveyard, instantly summoning the ultimate machine, the best Magnet warrior- Valkyrion.

"What is _that_?" Selbek asked, not sounding impressed at the robot before him.

"Allow me to introduce Valkyrion, the Magnet Warrior." Mokuba said. "And with 3500 ATK…"

"He can attack me directly! My wall won't work!" Selbek gasped.

"He _could_…" Mokuba agreed "If I wasn't about to bring his second effect into play. By sacrificing Valkyrion, I can automatically get back Alpha, Beta and Gamma!"

"But…" Selbek couldn't believe it, couldn't figure it out. He had never seen a move so… complicated. "But why? What's the point in all this sacrificing and bringing back?"

"Do you really want to know?" Mokuba grinned wickedly. "Because it's going to kill ya."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

At last, the skyline of Domino was in sight. Serenity's thoughts turned away from her own predicament and back to the original concept- What was happening to Yugi and, quite possibly, the Kaiba brothers.

It seemed the others had experienced this as well, because they had finally stopped arguing.

"So." Tristan said. "We're nearly there. What's the plan?"

"At last…" Joey groaned. "I guess we just take a look around."

"What are we looking for?" Tristan asked.

"Anything unusual." Joey shrugged. "But maybe we should call round at the Game Shop first. I promised Yugi's Grandpa I'd come and he's probably wondering where I've got to…"

"Okay then." Tristan agreed. "Let's do that."

Suddenly, a dim 'boom' sound reached them, and, far off in the city's skyline they saw a large mushroom shaped cloud of dust and smoke rise.

"Or we could head towards the big explosion." Téa suggested, recovering.

"Yeah, on second thoughts, I think we'd better do that."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"First, I'll sacrifice Alpha, Beta and Gamma _again _in order to bring out _another _Valkyrion from my deck!" Mokuba yelled.

"A second Valkyrion?" Azreal asked. "I thought he only had one…"

"So did I…" Seto said, sounding slightly irked. "Where did he get the second one from?"

Yugi continued to look forward, trying to look innocent. No, it hadn't been _him _who had given Mokuba the card. He hadn't been secretly helping Mokuba modify his deck. Certainly not. What an… absurd… suggestion. Ahem.

Selbek gave a growl of frustration as another of the fearsome robots appeared, different to the other only in slight tonal colour differences. "But it doesn't matter!" He howled. "You still only have one! What's the point!"

"You've forgotten one of the most basic but important cards in the game." Mokuba sighed. "You are not fit to call yourself a duellist, really. I'll play Monster Reborn. And I'll just _bet_ that you know what I'm going to revive, Selbek!"

The first Valkyrion reappeared, looking about as smug as a Robot can get.

"You wanted a robot army?" Mokuba said, hidden somewhere behind the massive wall of metal and robot. "Well, how do you like mine? Because they can both attack directly, and that, as I'm sure you've worked out, will do more then six thousand damage! So, now, Valkyrions, attack his life points directly!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

They were celebrating even before the life point counter reached Zero.

"That was awesome!" Azreal cheered. "Mokuba, you rocked!"

"Well…" Mokuba began.

"No 'Wells' or 'ifs' or 'buts'!" Jenna interrupted. "You were way better then me! That was skill, not fluke nor luck!"

"I haven't seen a combo like that in a while." Yugi smiled.

"Me either." Ryou said, also grinning.

"There's just one thing I don't get…" Jenna added. "I'm no expert, but I thought you could only… summon… once per turn."

"That's true." Ryou nodded. "But you can have as many special summons as you want, and Mokuba took advantage of that."

"'Special Summons'?" Jenna echoed in confusion. "On second thoughts, no, don't even _try _to explain. Let's just all agree that Mokuba kicked butt, okay?"

"Fine by me." Seto agreed. Mokuba smiled happily. Seto had never been one for praising openly, but that was pretty close.

Close enough, anyway.

Unfortunately, they had all forgotten about Selbek. He was still there, and he still had one, final trick up his sleeve…

"Congratulations." He said coolly, pulling the centre of attention back to himself. "Well done. Now I suggest you all get out of here."

"What have you done?" Seto growled. "You promised you'd let us all go safely, Selbek."

"And I will honour that promise." The man in question shrugged. "You have three minutes from now. Then, the building will explode."

They looked at him in horror.

"Well, now it's obvious that there's no way I can compete, no way for me to get my 'fifteen minutes of fame' I've been working for all this time. So I might as well go out with a bit of a bang, no? The device was set to my disk. When my life points reached zero, all over the building the bombs began their countdowns."

"What?" Azreal demanded. "You can't do this! You're insane! You're blowing up the building and we only have three minutes to find our way out!"

"I suggest you run." Selbek said mildly, settling down into his armchair on the left-hand side of the room. "It's two minutes now."

As one, the six began to run out the room.

"Come with us." Azreal asked simply.

"No." He replied equally simply.

"Then there goes another one…" She muttered, resuming her sprint as the others yelled at her to come on.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Mokuba was leading the way. Why? Well, apart from the fact he was one of the quickest, he also had the best memory of the blueprint and the best sense of direction. So when they let him take the lead, it was a good decision, albeit a strange one.

He himself had no idea where he was going. He was running on pure instinct, letting his feet do the thinking- they seemed to know where they were going better then his head, which was slowly being consumed by panic. How long had they been running? Thirty seconds? A minute?

More?

And yet, Anna and Jenna seemed to find it a good time to have a conversation.  
"So," Jenna gasped, breathless as they raced along yet another, identical corridor. "I hear you're going out with Kaiba. How's that working out for you?"

"We've been together since we were fifteen." Azreal informed her, by way of explanation.

"Really?" Jenna blinked in surprise. "But he's such a jerk…"

"Ah, He's nice once you get to know him." Azreal defended.

"Really?"

"No."

"Oh."

"So, what about you and Ryou, huh?"

"We're not going out! Why does everyone think that!"  
"You're not? Chick, you totally should be!"

Seto and Ryou exchanged an uncomfortable glance before propelling their respective protesting companions along in an attempt to make them go faster.

"Now's not the time, ladies!" Ryou said, sheepishly.

"I think I see a way out!" Mokuba cried in relief. His feet hadn't steered him wrong after all. Far away, at the end of the corridor, he could see what was obviously daylight streaming in around the edge of the double-doors he and Ryou had broken in through almost three days ago now. But could they reach it in time…?  
Yes.

They scrambled through the door and out, into daylight and fresh air, overwhelmed, and yet, they continued to stumble on, still in the blast zone.

They were half way down the hill when it happened. The whole building disappeared into a ball of noise and smoke and flame, even the hologram projectors malfunctioning. They threw themselves down, and stayed there for some time as shrapnel fell like rain up on top of the hill.

They were far enough away that the heat and after shocks dissipated reasonably quickly. Mokuba rolled onto his back, spitting out the mouth full of mud and grass he'd acquired whilst diving face down to the floor.

But now he did not look at the ground. He looked at the sky. It seemed insane. At the top of the hill, it was black and full of smoke and dust, slowly rolling forward. But directly above them, the sky was blue without a cloud in sight. And as the sun's rays beat down on him and warmed him, he felt very sleepy indeed.

He looked along the row of the people with him. His brother, Anna, Yugi, Ryou and Jenna, already all unconscious. Seto with his broken nose. Anna with a hair-band bandage round her swelling wrist. Yugi, covered in sand and dirt and dust from their various adventures in the holes. Ryou, even paler then usual, bags under his eyes from lack of sleep and his hands chapped and sore. Jenna, battered and beaten and exhausted.

And then there was him. Lying at the end of the row, his hands burnt and red-raw from the metal panel, His knuckles white from clenching them too hard throughout.

_I should really phone an ambulance or the firs service or something… _Mokuba thought drowsily. _No, it can wait. _He decided. _After sleep…_

_We must look an odd sight, _he considered as he began to give into the blackness gnawing at the edges of his eyes. _Six people unconscious on a hill in front of a burning building…_

And he finally let the black wash over him, floating away from the reality of the last few days.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

This was how Joey, Tristan, Téa and Serenity found them some time later.

They were a little surprised, to say the least.

And more then a little irritated that, after everything they'd been through to get here…

They hadn't been needed after all-

The six had done just fine on their own.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: I AM A LEMON SQUERED ON A COCKTAIL STICK!

Heh. Got your attention, didn't I? What I wanted to tell you was this: It's not the end yet. There's still some lose ends to tie up, and therefore there will be one further chapter and an epilogue, both to come somewhere next weekend. As I have Fri-Mon off due to Teacher training, I may as well make the most of it. So look out for the ending of IMM next week!

And one more thing: **Willowwind, **do you understand _now _who Valkyrion is…?

Till next week, smile!


	20. Aftermath

A/N: Would you believe it? I uploaded the wrong document earlier... but w/e. Okay, it's a day later then I would have liked, but here it is. Chapter Twenty, the Preliminary chapter! Sunday's dawning will see the Epilogue and _(Sniffle) _the end of the fic! So let's get on with it… Oh, wait. This chapter has a few warnings: Namely, various people getting tipsy. Good job the drinking age is 18… We couldn't have them do anything illegal, now could we? Although…

Disclaimer: Same as the other 19 chapters. Duh.

Review Responses:

Dragonlady222: An obsession? Yeah, you should go to the doctor for that... Only kidding. Thanks for being such a complimetary reviewer!

erosgirl: Well, I can't comment on the Noah duel, because they cancelled the series just after Yugi/Joey squared off with the Big 5. _(Glares at ITV)_Anyway, I'm glad youfound the chapter funny. It just seemed to me that Moki would have all the machiene monsters in his deck. And as Yugi had the magnet warriors at one point... It was going that way.

Most Royal Shiz: Nice to hear from you XD

Lilly of the Shadow: _(Imagines Ryou kicking butt on aliens) _Yeeees... That could be interesting... Poor Mokuba. I bet we embarress him. He's all grown up now, after all...

Now, it's on with the show with:

Twenty: Aftermath 

They were half way down the hill when it happened. The whole building disappeared into a ball of noise and smoke and flame, even the hologram projectors were malfunctioning. They threw themselves down, and stayed there for some time as shrapnel fell like rain up on top of the hill.

They were far enough away that the heat and after shocks dissipated reasonably quickly. Mokuba rolled onto his back, spitting out the mouth full of mud and grass he'd acquired whilst diving face down to the floor.

But now he did not look at the ground. He looked at the sky. It seemed insane. At the top of the hill, it was black and full of smoke and dust, slowly rolling forward. But directly above them, the sky was blue without a cloud in sight. And as the sun's rays beat down on him and warmed him, he felt very sleepy indeed.

He looked along the row of the people with him. His brother, Anna, Yugi, Ryou and Jenna, already all unconscious. Seto with his broken nose. Anna with a hair-band bandage round her swelling wrist. Yugi, covered in sand and dirt and dust from their various adventures in the holes. Ryou, even paler then usual, bags under his eyes from lack of sleep and his hands chapped and sore. Jenna, battered and beaten and exhausted.

And then there was him. Lying at the end of the row, his hands burnt and red-raw from the metal panel, His knuckles white from clenching them too hard throughout.

_I should really phone an ambulance or the fire service or something… _Mokuba thought drowsily. _No, it can wait. _He decided. _After sleep…_

_We must look an odd sight, _he considered as he began to give into the blackness gnawing at the edges of his eyes. _Six people unconscious on a hill in front of a burning building…_

And he finally let the black wash over him, floating away from the reality of the last few days.

o-o-o-o-o-_Two Weeks Later _o-o-o-o-o-o

Mokuba leaned back drowsily, sinking into the new (and therefore soft) sofa. As it had turned out, they had been more badly hurt then they had believed. They must have been running on pure adrenaline whilst inside the building, because they came out exhausted. They just hadn't realised it.

But a short stay in hospital and a few nutrition courses later, they were all back at home again. Well, Yugi and Anna were. Ryou and Jenna, of course, were just here to visit anyway, even though they were staying in Ryou's old flat, and Mokuba…

That was a bit more complicated. But, the problem was his older brother. While in hospital, the doctors and nurses had realised that Seto was drastically underweight. And had committed him to the 'Anorexia Ward'.

Seto was not happy about it.

Anna had known- and worried- about Seto's weight problem for years, but by now had given up on trying to make him eat or sleep anymore then he wanted to. And she knew what would happen if anyone but her or Mokuba tried to make him. Fearing that Seto would stage some sort of break out, and for the hospital staff's well-being, Anna had spent most of her time since getting out of the hospital there trying to make sure that Seto didn't do too much damage.

But, seeing as his guardian was in hospital, and the hospital was government-run, and that the government stated that anyone under the age of 16 could not be left alone for more then one night, that left Mokuba, with no other relatives, without a place to stay.

So he had ended up back at Ryou's. After he helped re-build the flat. But that was another story.

It was quite late at night, but the sleepiness they felt was pleasant. He, Yugi, Jenna and Ryou were all gathered in the front room of Ryou's flat pouring companionably over a map. Well, Jenna was watching some sort of music concert on the small television that Ryou had pulled from somewhere after his proper one was smashed by Selbek's goons. It wasn't all that great a TV, it made an odd buzzing sound on all the high notes, but Ryou had spent all the available money on replacing the sofa and chairs. Everything else had been salvageable, including, amazingly, his guitar.

"This is where we've been…" Ryou said, pointing to England on the map and slowly dragging his finger across the map. "We started in England, went through the channel islands and down to Portugal, up through Spain and into France, Down to Italy and then up to Germany, through Poland and all the way across Russia, then south through Mongolia into the North of China, and then into Korea, and then we came here." He concluded, finishing with his finger on Japan. They had spent all night discussing where the travellers should go next, but it seemed that, so far, they had followed a more or less logical route. Ryou scanned the map, preparing to make a suggestion. "So… How about we go down to Australia and then we can go across to South America and do a road-trip up the continent to Canada, and finally head through Greenland and Iceland to see Jenna's Northern Lights before it's back to England." He smiled. "We'll have to miss out on Africa, which is a bit of a downer, but we were running out of time anyway. So, what do you think?" He turned to Jenna, who appeared not to have heard him, still concentrating on the screen.

"Jenna!" Ryou yelled, getting her attention.

She jumped, and turned sheepishly. "Sorry…"

"What are you watching, anyway?" Ryou asked curiously, glancing at the band performing. Then he sighed. "Jenna… Why are you watching _them_? It'll only get you angry…"

"Because sooner or later," Jenna snarled, clenching a fist. "They are going to play _my _song. And I want to know what it sounds like when _they_ perform it."  
"Is they the ones that stole your song?" Mokuba asked in surprise. "I thought they were a British band."

"It's their world tour." Jenna explained. "That's how I was able to get their CD in Korea to begin with." She gestured at the screen.

"Well, forget about it for a second." Ryou said, giving up. "Come over here. We've been planning a route out for us."

Jenna looked at the floor. "I'm sorry… I can't."

Ryou blinked. "What?"

"I'm all out of money… I mean, I have just enough to get back to England. But not enough to go travelling again."

Ryou stared for a moment, then sighed and began to fold up the map. "Well, you could have told us _before _we went through all that bother…"

"Ryou…" She said slowly, knowing that inside he was actually disappointed.

He looked up, about to say something, when suddenly they became aware of what was happening on screen.

"This is it." Jenna deflated into a chair. "They're going to play my song…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Meanwhile, Azreal was still at the hospital with Seto, visiting, or guarding, him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Making sure _you_ stay put."

"You don't trust me an inch, do you?"

"If you mean do I think you'd attempt to break out of a hospital, then the answer is that I wouldn't put it past you."

"You don't know me at all…"

"No, I know you _too _well." Azreal put down the magazine she had been flipping through and looked at Seto. "You're acting weird. Have they had you on a drip or something?"

"Why don't you come with me?" Seto asked suddenly.

"What?" She blinked.

"Come with me." Seto muttered, so a nearby nurse would not overhear. "Come with me, and let's get out of here."

"…It's for your own good, Seto…" Azreal said, not sounding convinced.

"If anyone else tells me that, I'm going to kill myself. Or, even better, them." Seto rolled his eyes. "Come on, aren't you bored staying here all day? Let's go."

"But…"

"If we can break out of a building made like a _Transformer_, then we can get out of a hospital. Come on, let's make today a bit more memorable for these poor sods…" He gestured at the other patients and visitors.

"…" Azreal looked at him. "Yeah, alright then."

And so, the two ran desperately for the door to the ward, laughing, cheered on by other patients and perused by the doctors.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Hang about!" The drummer on screen yelled as the guitarists started tuning up. "We can't play that song!"

Jenna blinked. It was obviously staged, but where could this conversation be going…?

"Oh, that's right." The lead singer blinked, blatantly acting. "We have a confession to make… even if our agents advised against it. But I want to tell you a little story about this song…"

"Are they about to do what I think they're about to do…?" Jenna asked, breaking into a smile.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Well, that didn't look suspicious at all…" Azreal panted, as they stopped their mad run around the corner from the hospital. "So. Can you get arrested for breaking out a hospital?"

"Do you want to hang around and find out?" Seto laughed, grabbing her hand and starting off again. "Come on! Let's go find Mokuba!"

"Remind me to put you on a drip more often…" Azreal chuckled. "I like you like this…"

"I like being like this!" Seto replied giddily as they headed towards Ryou's flat.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"…And so, we'd like to apologise to Miss Notlaw," The singer began to wrap up. "But we'd also like to thank her. For not suing us, or even telling the press in the way we deserved. We _are _going to play the song now, but when Miss Notlaw returns home she may just like to take a look at her bank balance, and if she gets in touch with the record company, she'll we're interested in hiring her…"

As Jenna's song started, and Mokuba and Yugi heard it for the first time, Jenna laughed in delight.

"They paid me for it!" She screamed in delight. "And they're gonna give me a job!"

"Jenna! This is awesome!" Ryou agreed, hugging her back when she threw her arms round his neck.

"I don't believe it!"

"This is excellent! I'm so happy for you!"

And then they noticed Yugi and Mokuba smirking at them, and sprang apart, embarrassed.

They were not going out. They were just friends…

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The doorbell went, and, glad for the excuse, Ryou went to answer it.

When he opened the door, he saw Anna and Seto standing there. They calmly walked past him into the room, and then, crossing over to the big, floor-to-ceiling window, each hid behind a curtain.

A second later, Anna stuck her head out and, as an after thought, said: "Hello."

"Hi." Ryou replied.

Silence fell in the room.

"Seto, Ann, do you want a drink?" Ryou asked.

"No, thanks, I'm alright." Anna's curtain replied.

"Sure?"

"Yes, thanks for offering."

"Okay then."

Jenna looked back and forth between Ryou and the bulging curtains.

"Fine." She said "I'll ask. Is there a reason you two are hiding behind the curtains?"

"Oh. We're on the run, you see." Anna replied, from behind the window.

"Ah. Alright then."

"Three weeks ago, you would have found that weird." Yugi pointed out in amusement.

"Japan's a pretty weird place." Jenna replied.

And agreement was echoed around the room.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

The next time the doorbell rang, it was two police officers, wanting to ask all those who were at the 'incident' of two weeks ago what had happened.

"We will be talking to Mr Kaiba and Miss Mitsan to." The officer assured them once they had established who was there. "But as they are in hospital right now…"

"Actually," Ryou answered. "They're hiding behind the curtains."

Seto and Azreal struggled out.

"Hi." Anna said, as though it was perfectly normal to hide behind someone's curtains. "Have we done something illegal?"

"No…" The officer replied, deciding not to ask what they had been doing back there. "We just want to talk to you, that's all."

"Oh good." Azreal said, sitting down on the floor due to lack of room on the chairs and sofa.

"We just need to know what happened." The second officer prompted.

So they told them.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"So let me get this straight…" The more senior officer said. "The abandoned building was really a hi-tech lair of a film fanatic. Only we couldn't tell because it was covered in a hologram."

"That's right." Yugi nodded.

"And this… Selbek… character, kidnapped you-" The second continued, pointing at Seto. "And the rest of you more or less went to rescue each other."

"You got it." Jenna replied. "Except, I was kidnapped cause they thought that then Ryou would agree to their demands.

"Right. And then Selbek blew up his own building because he wanted his death to be more impressive then his life."

"That's about the size of it." Mokuba shrugged.

The two officers looked at each other.

"Drat." The first said, sighing in discontent. "So we came down from Tokyo for nothing…"

"We're on the trail of a man in a giant robot suit, you see." The second explained. "Like the Tripods in War of the Worlds. You haven't seen him, have you?"

They all shook their heads, and with that, the Police left, ready to head back up to Tokyo.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It had been late when Seto and Azreal had arrived. It had been later when the police had arrived. And now, it was the early hours of the morning.

Mokuba was tired, but also highly suspicious of what the others had been drinking, seeing as all the adults seemed a little… Tipsy.

"I propose a toast…" Jenna said drowsily, raising a glass. "To the song that has just made me _stinking_ rich…"

"And to those awesome Policemen from Tokyo…" Anna added. "May they find their robot and… have good luck in everything. Especially the one with the nice tush."

"Hey." Seto said indignantly. "I'm right here…"

Mokuba laughed. It was odd, this scene. He had never, ever, imagined his brother sitting with a group of people getting slightly drunk. In fact, this was probably the most Seto had ever, and would ever, socialise. Still, at least Seto was reasonably sober- he wasn't making a fool of himself just yet. Yugi had already fallen asleep, and was dead to the world on the sofa, and it seemed that Jenna was about to join him.

Ryou laughed. "Yes, and another toast to us!"

"Cheers!"

Azreal downed her glass, and stood up, wiping her mouth. "Well, we'd better go…" She glanced at Seto. "I think I'd better drive."

"I'm not drunk!" Seto protested.

"Just admit it." Azreal sighed. "Seto, you can't take your drink."

"Well," Ryou interrupted. "If I'm correct, you walked here. Which means neither of you has a car anyway."

"Okay. Then I guess we walk." Azreal shrugged, with a funny look at Seto. "Or stagger."

"Az…"

"Just come on." She laughed. Seto and Mokuba stood, and, as the two adults bade their hosts goodnight and left, Mokuba hung back.

"Ryou…" He said slowly. "Thanks."

"For what?" Ryou asked, looking after the retreating adults, slightly concerned. "For getting your brother drunk for the first time in his life?"

"No…" Mokuba shook his head. "Just in general. Thanks."

With that, he disappeared into the corridor, and went to catch up with his brother and his girlfriend.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Seto was not as drunk as Anna had made up. In fact, he was almost sober- he was just a little more mellow then usual. When they reached the corner where the brothers and Anna had to go their separate ways, they stood for a moment.

"And so, we reach the end of another adventure." Anna sighed. "Good luck with the next."

"What?" Mokuba laughed, as the statement had been directed at him. "What makes you say there'll be _another _one!"

"Because there always is." Anna shrugged, heading down her own road. "See you Seto, Mokuba!"

The brothers watched as she disappeared into the darkness.

"Never trust a word that girl says." Seto advised. "She told me that those drinks didn't have any alcohol in them…"

"Hers didn't." Mokuba laughed. "In case you didn't notice, Seto, she was drinking Lemonade."

"…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was a few days later, and Mokuba, Azreal, Yugi, Joey, Serenity, Tristan and Téa were all gathered at the airport, waiting to bid goodbye to Ryou and Jenna, who were heading back to England to sort out Jenna's job and payment

"What are you going to do now?" Téa asked Ryou. He shrugged.

"Well, we're gonna go back to England so we can see about this deal of Jenna's…" He looked over to where Jenna was talking to Mokuba, slightly apart from the rest of the group. "And then, I guess we'll hang around there for a while. Our year out is nearly over anyway."

"At least you've certainly had some adventures," Yugi said comfortingly. "So, what did you enjoy most about coming to Japan?"  
"Seeing you and Kaiba getting drunk." Ryou replied easily, laughing.

"I wasn't drunk!" Yugi protested.

"You were singing a song about goblins before falling asleep on my sofa!" Ryou disputed. "Come on Yugi… at least Seto was able to stand unsupported…"

"Well, maybe I was a little…" Yugi said doubtfully.

"Maybe? Don't you remember?" Tristan teased.

"I would have loved to have been there…" Joey sighed. "He's only been allowed to drink since he was eighteen, and I've never seen him get wasted before…"

"I wasn't wasted!"

"Plastered, then."

"Joey-!"

Slightly away from the others, Mokuba was talking to Jenna.

"Jenna?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you do me a favour?"

Jenna eyed the black-haired teen. "Depends what it is."

Mokuba flicked his head at Ryou, who seemed to be laughing at some joke with the others. "Just ask the guy out, okay? I mean, you two aren't fooling anyone, but he'll never ask you, he's too shy. So just ask him… You two are getting on my nerves with all this self-denial stuff."

Jenna reacted very well under the circumstances, remaining unfazed. "Alright, I will when you ask the Wheeler girl out…" She pointed at Serenity.

Mokuba spluttered. "Wh…what? How do you even know her!"

"Anyone who knows you knows her." Jenna grinned. "So, do we have a deal."

"No." Mokuba laughed. "I'll only ask her out when Seto and Anna… get married!"

"When I what?" Anna asked, appearing from nowhere and scaring Mokuba to death. "What's with you?" She asked curiously as Mokuba tried to recover.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" He yelled. "What, did Ryou teach you to do that, or something!"

"Did I teach her what?" Ryou asked, popping up from nowhere.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"This is the final call for London's Heathrow…" The crackling PA announced. "The plane for London's Heathrow is now departing."

"The planes are always delayed and then they make us hurry our goodbyes…" Jenna mumbled grumpily, scribbling an E-mail address onto Anna's hand.

"Well, we couldn't get a later plane." Ryou replied mildly. "It's a long drive from London to Stoke…"

"Final call for London's-" The Intercom began.

"We know, we know!" Jenna yelled. "Well, this is goodbye. Laters!"

"Goodbye." Ryou said simply as the two began to walk to the gate.

"Goodbye!" Mokuba called, his shouts mingling with the others. "I'll see you guys again some time, right?"

"Count on it!" Ryou replied, raising a final hand in farewell.

But farewell is not forever. A long time, but not forever.

The plane disappeared into the horizon, and the group began to work their way out the airport.

"Are you leaving town again now?" Mokuba asked, finding himself standing next to Serenity.

She nodded. "Yes. Now we know everyone's okay… I have to get back to school. You?"

"The doctors at the hospital say I have to have another week off school, at least. The others, to, but you can bet Seto isn't going to listen to that!"

Serenity laughed. "Won't you get bored at home all the time?"

Mokuba shrugged. "I'll probably survive by practically living online."

She laughed again. "Maybe we can talk on MSN sometime, then…"

"Sure." Mokuba replied, smiling in surprise as they swapped addresses.

"Serenity!" Joey yelled from the front of his (re-fuelled) car, that Tristan had spent all that time towing behind them on the way to Domino. "Come on! It's a long way back home!"

"Coming!" Serenity shouted back, running over to him. "See you Mokuba!"

"Yeah, bye…" Mokuba replied. Then the Wheelers drove off to, and Mokuba found himself standing all alone outside the airport.

And so, he began to walk home, and back to familiar territory.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

A/N: And there you have it! Join me on Sunday morning for the Dramatic- well, not really dramatic, but it's kinda cute- conclusion to **It's My Move**! (P.S. Seto is, in fact 32 pounds underweight. Or so **Willowwind **tells me...)


	21. Epilouge: A Fresh Start

A/N: Before anything else, I want to commend the rescue workers in Russel Square who, just last night, managed to get into London's thinnest, deepest tunnel and geteveryone, andthe bodies out, sothelineis clear again! _(Claps)_

Here. I got it done, and on time to, despite SEVERE adversity. Namely, a history project, my dad deciding to pull all the shelves out of the room, my computer being buried under a box of books and a saw, the dark because I couldn't find the light switch, being surrounded by boxes and generally having the house demolished around me, and then, of course, there was the frog and crane fly invasion before a brutal attack by a stack of old Garfield video tapes.

The upshot of it all was that I had to miss Lethal Weapon 3 to write this. See how much I care about my readers:-)

So, without further ado:

Review Responses:

Willowwind-of-the-many-reviews: Not ALL British people pop up like that. I do. But not everyone does. It's just Ryou being his ghostly self. XD Anyhoo, Seto is fun to tourment. And who can imagine Yugi getting 'sloshed'? He's too innocent!That's why I put it in, kinda, cause I can't imagine it. Remind me to tell you the lyrics to the Goblin song some time... Anyhoo, you can imagine him conked out on Ryou's sofa, can't you? Awwww...

Dragonlady222: You love the fic, I love nice reviewers! Everyone's happy:0)

Lily of the Shadow: Just... Thanks for your support. I don't know how long it'll take, to be honest. Probably longer then we'll be alive. We just have to hope and pray that it'll all come right in the end. And now, more cheerful things. After all, they are only trying to scare us out ofournormal lives. And we can't let themdo that, now can we?

Disclaimer: I haven't gained anything since the Prologue. And, speaking of the Prologue, What better way to start the chapter then with a flashback…:

Epilogue: A Fresh Start

Seto growled softly to himself and banged on the door again. Finally, his younger brother's head appeared.

"Yes?" He said innocently. And loudly.

"Turn it down!" Seto ordered.

"What?" Mokuba asked.

"I said turn it down!" Seto bellowed over the music that was now more then ever pouring out into the corridor and polluting his ears.

o-o-o-o-o-_19 Months later…_o-o-o-o-o-o

Azreal growled softly to herself and banged on the door again, before adding, a little more gently:

"Oh, come on… You have to come out sometime…"

"I know…" Mokuba sighed from the depths of his room. "I'll be there in just a minute."

"We'll be downstairs." Azreal shrugged. "You can't be late to your own party…"

Mokuba sighed again as he heard her feet pounding down the stairs. He looked at himself in the mirror. The Tuxedo looked better then it felt, at least.

He sighed a final time by force of habit, but then stood up straight. He was seventeen. He was, as of tomorrow, a partner in Kaiba Corp. And if this was the first thing he had to do, so be it.

He left his room and did not look back as he joined his brother and Anna in the car.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

He cursed Anna under his breath. This had all been her idea. It had all seemed so distant a few weeks ago…

"Your birthday." She had said, slamming a hand down on the kitchen counter and thus making him spill his drink everywhere.

"If this is about presents," He had replied tiredly, not wondering how she had got into their house. The Doorman knew who she was by now. "I already told you. I don't know."

"Oh, I've sorted that out," Anna dismissed, waving a hand. "I'm talking about celebrations."

Mokuba blinked. "Oh…"

"You're seventeen." She said, as though he didn't know. "You've finished school, and your birthday is your official induction as a partner in KC."

"Yeah…" He had said, already getting a sinking feeling.

"The thing is, a lot of people in the company are going to resent you if you come into the company right at the top." She had informed him bluntly, leaving no room for argument. "And you have to do something about it. Because, somehow, I think you're going to be the people skills in this partnership." Right on que, they heard Seto cursing in his office upstairs and muttering something about Windows ME.

"Seto, just buy a new computer!" Azreal yelled, looking up.

They heard a thump of something heavy hitting the floor.

"Anyway…" Anna continued, deciding not to even contemplate what Seto was doing upstairs. "You have to do something to show you're not as 'up-there' as they thought you would be. They need to respect you- and there are two types of respect. Grudging respect, like Seto has for Yugi…" She grinned when another thump issued from upstairs. "And proper respect, that comes from liking someone. So you need to get the workers to like you, not respect you because you're their boss."

Mokuba groaned and held his head in his hands. "See? That would never even have occurred to me. And I have no idea how you'd go about it! You're so much better at this then me… I'm not sure if I can do this…"

She slapped him round the head. "Stop being so bloody pathetic. It doesn't suit ya." Mokuba looked up indignantly, holding his head. "That's better. Now, all you have to do is throw a little party…"

Looking at it now, 'little' was not the way to describe it. They had invited all the workers and all their families. And, in a little while, he'd have to make a speech to all of them…

And worse, he had to dance with all their daughters hoping for a piece of the young soon-to-be-CEO. The girl he was dancing with at the moment was particularly heinous; she had no grace, had been dancing with him for almost twenty minutes, always finding an excuse to keep him there, and, worse of all, had breath like a Mongoose.

"Are you enjoying your party?" She asked him. He nodded, trying hard not to inhale more then absolutely necessary. That was it- the moment he was officially a partner, he'd ask Seto to revise the company's dental plan to include their employees' kids.

Just as he was about to give in to his instincts and push the girl away from him before leaping out of the nearest window, someone came to save him.

"May I cut in?" She asked, shoving Mongoose-girl forcibly away before dragging Mokuba elegantly across the dance floor.

He sighed in relief. "Thanks Risa…"

This was the upshot of it all. At least he had been able to invite his friends to- although Seto had probably not been expecting him to invite Yugi and all the rest when he consented. But whatever. They had helped him out a lot in the past, and he wanted them there.

"Stand up straight!" Risa hissed as the U2 continued to warble out in their own way.

"Who's to say where the wind will take you, who's to say what it is will break you? I don't know which way the wind will blow…" That was another bonus point. He and Anna had been able to chose the music. Seto had just made the sound people promise not to play anything _too _hardcore…

"You're Impossible to dance with when you slouch!" Risa reprimanded him. "You're hopeless, you know that? I don't know why that girl seems to like you so much…"

"Sorry…" He said sheepishly. Between Risa and Anna, he had just brought his dancing up to a standard where he didn't feel like a complete idiot. But only just.

U2's song concluded itself, and the next song played was so blatantly ridiculous that they decided to go and get a drink.

"What is this…?" Risa asked indcredously.

"I have no idea…" Mokuba replied, watching as people stopped dancing in confusion. "But I bet I know who's behind it…"

He glared at Anna, who smirked and waved at him from across the room. The room was in silence, apart from the song, the mood killed.

"Someone left my cake out in the rain- all that sweet green icing in flowing doooown! I don't think I can take it, cause it took so long to make it," The song insisted. "And I'll never have that recipe agaiiiiiiiiiiiiiin! Oh nooooooo! Oh nooooooooooooooo! Oh NOOOOOOOO!" It continued in this fashion for sometime.

Someone snorted. And then some people started to giggle.

And soon, the whole room was collapsing into laughter- though the booze some of them had sneaked in helped.

"What is this…?" Risa spluttered again, tears pouring down her face as the man continued to mourn his cake.

"I have no idea." Mokuba repeated, smiling in amusement himself. "She has a strange sense of humour, that one…"

There was a groan as the song finished, and normal music resumed. Mokuba and Risa continued to have their drinks, now that they were sure they would not spit it out.

"What was that all about?" Risa wondered.

"Don't ask me." Mokuba shrugged- though he had a feeling he did. Suddenly, everyone was more relaxed- like a meeting of friends, not a high-school dance where you worry about what everyone thinks of you. And, seeing as it was his speech in just a few more songs, he was thanking her with every fibre. "That guy's checking you out." He nodded to the other side of the room where a blond kid- the son of the one of the accountants, he believed- had been watching Risa all night.

"I know…" She sighed. "Fit, isn't he?"

"I… wouldn't know…" Mokuba coughed, not used to being asked to comment on other boy's attractiveness. "Why don't you ask him to dance?"

"Do you think I should?" She replied uncertainly as a slow song came on.

"Sure." Mokuba answered, smiling as he pushed her off in the right direction. "Have fun."  
However, as Risa left, he was left as an open target. In the middle of a slow song. He could feel her eyes, the girl with the mongoose breath eyes, burning into him. She was approaching. And there was no way he could avoid dancing with her- Risa was not available to rescue him this time.

Help.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"I should really go and help him…"

"Let him suffer…"

Azreal pulled away slightly, breaking the rhythm of the slow sway, to slap Seto on the arm.

"Don't be mean! He's already danced with her for half an hour or so…"

"All part of the job." Seto smirked.

"Yeah, I believe that when it's taken till now for you to dance with me…" Azreal laughed. "Don't worry. I'll be right back. And you have years to 'prove your moves' to me…"

Seto shook his head as she moved away. Just what kind of woman had he chosen…? He watched as Az and his little brother began to dance, talking…

And Mokuba broke off the dance to hug her in delight.

Seto smiled a little to himself. The Seal of Approval. That was alright then.

As if there had been any doubt.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

There was nowhere to go. She was almost upon him; she knew he saw her, and she smiled. If he smiled back, it would be like accepting. If he didn't, it'd be rude…

"Is it my turn to dance yet?" Someone asked, holding out an arm.

"Anna! Thank goodness…" Mokuba muttered, accepting as he flashed an apologetic smile at Mongoose girl, who scowled. "I would've suffocated if I'd had to dance with her again…" He could dance easily with Anna, not worrying about making a good impression, or what she was thinking about him… Plus, no-one would think it was weird that he was dancing with a twenty-one year old. By now, everyone knew that she was practically one of the family- and if they hadn't previously they would now that she had been dancing with Seto all night.

"What are friends for?" She grinned. "And you dance a lot better then your brother, at least. The problem is that he has such long arms… He dances like a puppet."

"Well, you seem to know how to pull his strings." Mokuba laughed. Anna just smiled and said nothing for a moment before Mokuba changed the subject.

"So… Any other surprises on the play list I should know about?" He asked wryly.

"No…" She replied innocently, as though she didn't have both 'My Boomerang won't Come Back' and 'I'm A Gnoo!' ready and waiting.

"Anna…" Mokuba warned.

"Oh, look at the time." She interrupted. "Looking forward to your speech?"

It was a blatant change of subject, and Mokuba knew it, but his brain was overwhelmed by nerves and groaned loudly.

"I think I'm going to die of heart failure before I even get on stage…" He moaned.

"Well, he's a thought that'll distract you from your nerves…" She said mischievously. "You're going to see a lot more of me then you probably would have hoped…"

"Huh?" Mokuba blinked, then started to realise something. "Are you implying what I think you're implying?" He broke into a smile.

"Probably…" Anna said, smiling herself and sounding as though she couldn't quite believe herself her next words. "I'm going to marry your brother. Hope you don't mind."

"Mind!" Mokuba echoed, breaking off the dance to give her a lose hug. "Why would I mind! This is awesome!"

Anna laughed. "I can't quite get my head round it, myself. People will probably think we're too young, but…" She shrugged, whispering so the conversation would not be over heard in the quiet as the song changed. "Oh," She said as the next song began. "Look. A slow song. And look!" She continued in mock surprise. "There's the Wheelers!"

Sure enough, Joey was (Attempting) to dance with Serenity not far away.

"Oh no…" Mokuba muttered, trying to pull away as Anna tightened her grip. "Oh no, oh no…"

"Oh yes." Anna replied determinedly. "Jenna may not be here, but I am, _and_ I've kept in contact with her. And she has inlisted me to the scheme. I kept my part in this, now it's your go…"

"Anna…!" Mokuba protested. "That was almost a two years ago!"

"Exactly." She shrugged "You take too long! Come on, don't be shy…"

"But…" He said weakly. "I was joking…"

o-o-o-o-o-_Fall Through the Mists of Time…_o-o-o-o-o-o

_Slightly away from the others, Mokuba was talking to Jenna._

_"Jenna?"_

_"Yeah?"_

_"Will you do me a favour?"_

_Jenna eyed the black-haired teen. "Depends what it is."_

_Mokuba flicked his head at Ryou, who seemed to be laughing at some joke with the others. "Just ask the guy out, okay? I mean, you two aren't fooling anyone, but he'll never ask you, he's too shy. So just ask him… You two are getting on my nerves with all this self-denial stuff."_

_Jenna reacted very well under the circumstances, remaining unfazed. "Alright, I will when you ask the Wheeler girl out…" She pointed at Serenity._

_Mokuba spluttered. "Wh…what? How do you even know her!"_

_"Anyone who knows you knows her." Jenna grinned. "So, do we have a deal."_

_"No." Mokuba laughed. "I'll only ask her out when Seto and Anna… get married!"_

o-o-o-o-o-_Back to Reality…_o-o-o-o-o-o

With the swift precision that could only have been Téa- taught, Azreal pushed in, instantly switching partners with Serenity.

"Think I'll cut in…" She laughed, turning to face the younger girl. "Your feet must be almost flat by now!"

"I happen to be a very able dancer!" Joey said in mock indigence.

"Really? Well then, prove it, Blondie."

The two swirled away, quickly swallowed by the mass of people, leaving the two teenagers standing side by side in disbelief.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Mai watched as Azreal successfully switched partners and she and Joey disappeared into the crowd. Part one was complete, though goodness knows how Azreal had got the younger Kaiba over there to begin with, but it didn't matter.

Now, Part Two all hinged on whether they would finally dance. And they certainly wouldn't if their older brothers were in a fight.

So that was her job. Distract Seto long enough so that he didn't see Joey with Azreal and to give Mokuba and Serenity enough time to get at least one dance in before Seto pulled them apart.

She leaned backwards. She was standing right next to him, but not even Mai could think of a way to start a conversation with the surely CEO. To her surprise, it was Seto who spoke to her.

"Our partners seem to be having fun." He commented wryly, nodding to where he had spotted Azreal and Joey dancing. "Although, I warn you now, if he lays a finger on her, he won't be any shape to dance with you for a long time."

"Fair enough." Mai smiled. "You know, I never thought I'd have a conversation with you. Let alone have you start one."  
"You haven't seen me in a long time." He pointed out, smiling grimly. "Don't get the wrong idea. I'm as ruthless as ever."

"I didn't expect anything else." Mai replied. "I guess you've just spent too much time around Azreal. That girl is so happy, it's unbelievable… And not even you can help but be happy around her. Amazing."

"Pretty perceptive, Valentine." Seto shrugged. "But how perceptive are you really, I wonder…?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mai demanded as he began to disappear into the throng of moving bodies.

"I'm sure you'll find out." He smirked. "But right now, I have something to do…"

And Mai didn't like the sound of that one bit.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Mokuba and Serenity stood side-by-side in disbelief.

"If I didn't know better," Serenity said slowly. "I'd say they planned that…"

"It's my fault." Mokuba mumbled. "I sold my soul to the devil… She comes from London and wants to snog Ryou…"

"Huh?" Serenity blinked.

"Never mind…" Mokuba said hastily. They stood awkwardly in silence for a moment.

_I'll never have this chance again… _Mokuba thought desperately _If I don't take it now, I'll never forgive myself…_

"Well, seeing as we're here…" He said slowly. "Shall we dance?"

"Let's." Serenity agreed happily, looking like she genuinely wanted to, not like she was just being polite.

"Right…" Mokuba said nervously, moving a little closer to begin, heart pounding.

And then the music stopped. Everyone looked up in confusion.

"It's time to hear from the man of the moment…" The sound person said. "Mr Mokuba Kaiba, would you care to come on up?"

Mokuba couldn't believe it. Couldn't he have just had five more minutes!

"Don't worry." Serenity assured him, putting his hesitation down to stage-fright. "You'll be fine…"

It was speech time.

And he was going to die.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"You did that on purpose." Azreal hissed, standing next to Seto as Mokuba made his way up onto stage.

"Did what?" Seto asked, unfazed. "It was the time we'd arranged…"

"I'll deal with you later…" She replied in exasperation. "It's his time now…"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

This was it. He had written the speech himself. Behind the small microphone, he crossed his fingers. If this went down like a lead balloon, the entire evening would be ruined. So here's hoping he'd do well.

"Um, Hey everyone…" He started uncertainly, looking at the sea of faces before him. "I won't keep you long…because I don't want to be up here any longer then I have to be…" He added under his breath. Unfortunately, the microphone still picked it up. A ripple of laughter went round the room. Was that good? Bad? He'd gone blank. He had no idea what he had been going to say! Panic started eating at him. How long had he been silent? Just a suitable pause? A minute? More! He needed something to say, fast, so he surveyed the room desperately for inspiration.

He saw Seto and Anna, standing right at the back, side by side. She had her arms folded, and stood straight- but then she rested her head on Seto's shoulder. And he did not shrug her off. The expression on his face made Mokuba feel hopeful again. Because he had never seen Seto looking happier.

"Besides," He continued, enthusiasm back in his voice. Glancing at people's expressions, he had not been silent for too long. Good. Still, he wasn't finished yet… There was plenty of time to screw up still. His nerves returned with a vengeance. "Today is a day of celebrations, not speeches! So I guess I just want to say thanks." His gaze swept across the room again, trying to meet the eye of everyone in the audience individually in the way his drama teacher had taught him. He saw Serenity, watching him intensely. "Not just for coming out here, but in advance- In advance for bearing with me. I really don't think I'm boss material, but someone obviously does… Seto… so I hope you'll all bear with me while I get used to things, and I thank you all for believing I can do this. I know how hard you all work; everyone in the world with access to our products knows how hard you work, they can see it! And so, I'll work hard to! So then, hopefully, in the future, we can have a company to be even more proud of!"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

He came down off the platform, legs like jelly. Serenity approached from the side, applauding quietly.

"I never want to do that again…" He muttered.

"But you were great!" She protested. "You seemed so honest… Especially since it was all completely off the cuff."

"You were the one that saved me." He told her.

"What?" She asked. "But I didn't do anything…"

"You were watching." Mokuba shrugged. "And I knew that if I had worked up the guts to ask you to dance with me, I could do anything."

She blinked.

"You said you liked honest." Mokuba laughed in embarrassment.

"Well, I won't put you through that again." She laughed. "I'll ask you this time. Mokuba, will you dance with me?"

"I'd love to." He replied.

He had thought he had had all his adventures. He had thought that once he had become a partner in Kaiba Corp, that would be it. His life would be about the company and how to run it. The greatest mystery would be where the virus in the network had come from.

But he was wrong. Another adventure- albeit a very different one- was finally getting underway.

He just hoped it was as easy as the others.

**----THE END---**

A/N: _(Sniffle) _Sorry…. I always cry when I finish a fic. Whether I'm reading it or writing it; and whether it was good or bad, I always cry. How appropriate, that it should finish today- It is the end of this fic, but also the end of my first year of That's right, my account is **one year old today**! Wow… I should make a speech! Though, if I'm half as awkward as Mokuba was… Looking at my speech writing skills, I should probably give it a miss!

I'm quite sad to see this fic finish. I'll miss writing all Mokuba's mis-adventures and seeing what he gets up to as a teenager, but I'm also quite excited. Because I'm finally off to begin the sequel to Amusing for Inspiration, called **Wherever you Go**! I will return in about two weeks or so, at the beginning of the summer holidays, with chapter one!

That only leaves one or two things left to say. First, all the songs mentioned in this chapter were real. Even the cake one. Thanks to **Willowwind **for that. Also, thanks to anyone who has read this far, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it:-)

Just in case you are wondering, excluding A/Ns, this fic was 119 pages long. There were 159 page breaks divided into 2,555 paragraphs between 58, 670 words. Quite a long fic!

And so, the credits roll: A big thank you to all those who read. The Cake Song and Seto's weight problem were sent to me by Willowwind Adurois, and Kazuki Takahasi's name is read out here. Jenna and Azreal were original characters, Azreal having featured in Amusing for Inspiration. These are Radio 4 like credits, so there would usually be a joke right about now, but I'm to lazy to think of one. So, instead, I'll just say: Goooodbye!


End file.
